


Team MAUV

by Qtrlbsceci



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, CFVY, College Life, F/F, F/M, Original Character(s), RWBY - Freeform, Slow Build, Volume 1with OCs, beacon - Freeform, kind of?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2018-10-02 04:13:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10209389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qtrlbsceci/pseuds/Qtrlbsceci
Summary: This is a RWBY Volume 1 story with original characters I created.Artemisia Kynigos is a cheetah faunus, and wishes to forget her past. A past where she lost the memory of her twin brother and at the same time her voice. Wishing for a fresh start, she enters Beacon Academy, hoping it to be a way to help her leave it all behind. Until she ends up pairing up with someone who is tied to that past, someone whom she unintentionally also harmed with her actions. Will her past be unveiled in front of her new teammates, or will she keep that past of her buried forever?(I'll work on the summary) Also I have Concept art and a Team visual by me. >>>http://qtrlbsceci.deviantart.com/Follow team MAUV (a shade of purple) through their first experience in Beacon Academy. In this story all the characters are over 18. Beacon Academy will be considered a University in this AU.





	1. Welcome to Beacon Academy

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah, this happened. Hope you al least enjoy this and to be fair, I have zero experience in writing. So feel free to correct me on things, and typos. I present you team MAUV:  
> Mauvin Hood: alludes to Robin Hood  
> Artemisia Kynigos: Alludes to the goddess of the moon and the hunt  
> Ulrich de Vil: alludes to Cruella de Vil  
> Vinncent Vulcan: alludes to the god of volcanoes and metalworking 
> 
> (Edit: 3/23/2017) Just FYI Team Rwby will show up when these characters are in their sophomore year. They will be mentioned and appear but it wont concentrate on them much. If you do then let me know and I can figure something out.
> 
> If you want more info on my characters (weapon detail and symbols etc.) let me know.

She traced her fingers along the faint cracks on the window of the ship, forehead pressed against it. _I made it Leon,_ she thought solemnly. Beacon Academy, she hoped her life outside the protection of the kingdoms was enough background to pass the entrance exam. When she was approved with a high score she almost couldn’t believe it. She was almost positive they would reject her, but not from lack of combat experience. No, as she filed the paperwork she checked the disability box: unable to speak, she wrote. It’s a lie of course, she can most definitely speak, but the last time she did was when her semblance activated for the first time and caused an explosion. The loud screams, dust and smoke everywhere started to fill her mind. She really wished she could turn it off, but she can’t. Her semblance is always there.

(Back during the entrance exams)

 _I don’t get it. I’m flattered but I can’t speak, how can a team operate without proper communication?_ She signed to the professor who took her examination. He sipped dark liquid from his coffee mug, examining me over the rim of the cup. He paused in thought before answering. “Well, the best teams are those who communicate in battle without words. There’s a connection. Don’t think it’ll be easy, you have a tough road ahead of you. And your right in one aspect, you do need to communicate. Which is why the team members you get pair up with will be obligated to take SL (Sign Language) for their language elective.” He walked forward and placed a hand on her left shoulder. “You have too great a talent to go to waste. We will help you grow and learn about information you’ll need out there in the field, but hopefully this place will also have a play in helping you learn more about yourself as well. Everyone comes here with a weight on their shoulders, that’s what a team is for. You lean on each other, and make the weight a little more bearable.” He removed his hand and started walking toward the door, pausing by the doorway and angled his face towards her. “It’s amusing seeing you so surprised, if you expected rejection, why did you come?” The fanus hesitated for a moment before answering. _I don’t know_ , she signed. The professor raised his eyebrows from behind his spectacles, “Interesting. Well, I hope you find the answer to that here as well, Miss Kynigos.”

(Present)

The news program that was projecting during the ride to the academy was interrupted by a hologram of a lady. An instructor? Her blond hair making her green eyes stand out. “Hello and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing and incredible time of piece, and as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world. Upon landing, please head to the auditorium. Crossing the entrance to the school follow the path to your right towards the second building. There we will give you a brief introduction and further instructions.”

As her projection vanished everyone hurried toward the windows of the ship. An uproar of excitement filled the confined space. She scurried toward the opposite side of the crowd, sighing in relief when she could move without being elbowed in the ribs.

She never once thought she’d ever become a huntress, didn’t see herself as the hero type, too much of a scowl on her face that they would probably think she’s the bad guy. But past events closed off other pathways to her future. Her brother always helped people, never asked for food or money in return much to her frustration. He’d always stare at those flyers to recruit new hunters and huntresses, and urged her to consider going. She’d always refused, said that going to a kingdom they’d be subjectable to discrimination to their faunus heritage. He’d always respond with realism, “There will be hate wherever you go Artemis, you can’t let that stop you from living your life and doing what you were meant to do.”

 _What I’m meant to do huh?_ She thought as the ship landed, opening the hatch. Students started to walk out, different sizes, weapons, animal parts. _Well, I’m here to find out_. She thought as she also stepped out and put one foot forward towards the next four years of her life.

Or at least she thought she did, because soon she found herself falling forward, her fast cheetah heritage acted out of instinct and she landed on all fours. She froze for a second, assessing her situation. Both of her hands were on the ground, her left leg out stretched to the side while her right was folded under her. From another person’s point of view she looked like a feline ready to pounce, her cheetah spots visible she’s sure she made herself the center of attention, something she most certainly did NOT want. Artemis became aware of a person standing near with a sheepish look on his face, right hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Sorry, wasn’t looking where I was going. Got a bit disoriented with all the colors,” he stated. Dropping his hand from his neck, he extends it down towards Artemis. She hesitated a moment, trying to make sense of what he just said and wondering if he was messing with her. She let it go and accepted his hand letting him haul her up from the ground.

The quiet girl examined him up close, his platinum white hair was brushed upwards in a stylish way, black roots showing but it didn’t look dyed. Brown eyes, his cheekbones slightly sprinkled with freckles. He had a pronounced jaw that was styling a crooked smile. He had on a black T-shirt underneath a black leather jacket with red sleeves. His shorts stopped just below the knee, white with black patches. He topped it off with red fingerless gloves and short weathered deep red boots that almost looked black.

After he let go of her hand, his eyes started trailing a path from her left cheekbone down her body. Following her faunus heritage down her uncovered leg. Black cheetah marks cover her body’s left side. Artemis expected to see some sort of negative reaction; disgust or a disapproving gaze. But all the faunus saw was curiosity and friendliness.

“Nice save with the fall there. You heading for initiation?” He asked with a smile on his face. Artemis stared back with a guarded expression, old habits die hard. She nodded to answer the guy’s question, earning her a 100 watts smile that made her wince from the intensity. “Awesome! So am I, I’m kind of a failure when it comes to directions, mind if I walk with you to the auditorium? Professor Goodwitch lost me at ‘crossing the entrance,’” he gave her a sheepish smile this time.  

Artemis was a bit at a loss for words, her first communication with a person who didn’t outright hate on her faunus heritage, and there she was. Dumbstruck into silence.

Ha. Get it? Because she can’t speak?  

She blinked her confusion away, having been used to rejection and hate _. I don’t mind,_ she signed. Forgetting that this person probably won’t know that she doesn’t speak and probably doesn’t know SL.

The stranger looked surprised at first but soon responded back with “great! Sorry, I didn’t know you were deaf, your lip reading is very good if you understood me.” As he was speaking, Artemis was astonished to see him sign what he was saying. But soon proceeded to respond to his statement.

 _I_ _’m not deaf, I can hear fine. I’m just unable to speak._ The cheetah faunus started to walk towards the auditorium, her new acquaintance following her lead.

“Oh, that's good. I’m not that great with sign language. Just picked up a bit from a friend of mine. Oh! Almost forgot, my name is Ulrich.” He said, without signing this time. _Artemis_ , the feline signed to him. “Artemis?” he asked, double checking his SL skills. She nodded. “Well Artemis, thanks for leading this hopeless-misdirected-guy-who-bumps-into-people-as-a-first-impression to the auditorium,” he said lightheartedly. “I’ll see you around!” he turned around and started to walk towards the front of the stage.

Artemis stayed back at a distance, her body positioned where she could keep an eye at the entrance and her gaze quickly looked for different exit points. She caught herself doing this a few times. _Old habits really do die hard,_ she thought to herself again. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a microphone coming to focus. She then saw who she now knows is Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon Academy, and the person who personally scored her entrance exam.

“Ahem, . . . I will keep this brief. You have all traveled here today in the search on knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.” With that, the professor turned and walked off the stage. The lady who introduced herself earlier in the ship as Glenda Goodwich took his place placing an announcement. “You will gather in the ballroom tonight, you will sleep there for tonight until tomorrow, where we will assign you all dormitories. Tomorrow your initiation begins, breakfast is served at 6am sharp. Be ready, you are dismissed.” With that, chatter starts to flare up again in the small crowded space. Artemis quickly heads off to the ballroom, not used to being in a crown with so much noise.

She reaches the ballroom in record time, only a handful of students having made it before her.

“Not a crowd person either?” a voice asks from behind. Ulrich catches up to her, relief apparent in his face. The faunus shakes her head, glad that she’s not the only one who felt that way. “Yeah, the colors get overwhelming after a while,” he stated nonchalantly. Like what he was saying made the most perfect sense. Her confusion much have been apparent on her face because he soon backtracked and said, “Oh, I’m talking about my semblance. I can see a person’s aura. They leave a trail wherever they go. Imagine seeing 85 different colors in one place. It gets disorienting after a while.” He explained. “Sucks that I can’t turn it off, not yet anyway,” _That explains what he had said back at the ship_ , Artemis thought. _He doesn’t have much control over his semblance either, that makes two of us._

More and more students started to enter. The ballroom was way bigger than the auditorium, to the crowd wasn’t as stifling. As they walked towards the opposite side of the room a voice called out, “Ric?” Ulrich turned around and surprise lit up on his face.

“Mauvin? Hey, man! Long time no see!” A tall figure walked over. He had on dark green pants with tall brown leather boots, a long olive green coat with some type of gauntlets strapped over the sleeves.  The figure raised his right hand to grasp Ulrich’s in a tight shake.

“I didn’t know you had applied for Beacon! Damn, I thought you were still up at Atlas,” the newcomer exclaimed. He had a very handsome face, with heterochromia. Had one green eye and one blue. Something about him seemed familiar to Artemis, like she’s seen him before but couldn’t quite place him.

“Yeah, I moved out of the house not too long ago. Besides you know I’ve always wanted leave that place,” Ulrich responded. At this point, Artemis started to feel self-conscious. _Should I just back away slowly?_ She thought, as the two apparent friends kept going with their conversation.

“You should have contacted me! We could have – “the stranger paused and shifted his eyes to Artemis, who started to make her move of slowly backing away. Ulrich followed his gaze and realized he hadn’t introduced them.

“Oh, right! Mauvin this is Artemis: person I accidentally knocked over when we landed. And Artemis this is Mauvin: childhood friend whom I hadn’t seen in ages and can make fingerlickin’ good sweets.”

Mauvin smirked at that. “Nice to meet you, Artemis.” He said, stretching out his arm for a handshake. “And I go by Mauve,” he added.

Artemis said nothing, as can be expected. Just took his hand, nodded once in affirmation. And started towards the locker rooms, following Goodwitch’s orders to put their weapons away. Mauve just stared at her back as she walked away, a bit confused at her departure and taking in her weapon. _A bladed bow,_ he thought _. Fitting, goes with her name._ “Well, she was something,’” he muttered out loud.

“She can’t speak,” Ulrich responded, following his gaze. “Which is interesting because she’s not deaf,” he pondered.

Mauve glanced at Ric, then turned back to Artemis’ retreating figure. “Something must have happened to her then.” He mused, “I’m curious though. She must have great skills to have been accepted with her disability.”

Ulrich turned to him and cocked his head to the side, “what do you mean?” he asked.

Mauve’s face turned pensive, “well, we are going to end up in teams. For one of the members to not be able to communicate in battle will be a heavy burden on the whole team.” He thought out loud. “It must have been because she’s got great skills and experience.”

Ulrich looked lost, “wait, how do you know she’s got experience?” he asked.

Mauve looked at him raising an eyebrow, “she makes no sound as she walks, her eyes scan the room when she enters, when she first saw me she looked for my weapon first, and back at the auditorium she stood facing the entrance,” he paused. “I’ve only ever seen that with people who’ve been outside the kingdom’s defenses.”

Ulrich’s eyes widened a bit, “well damn, you’re as observant as ever. You always were the one who could spot trouble from a mile away,” he recalled.

Mauve started walking the same way Artemis disappeared to, planning to find his locker to put his weapon away and find his luggage. “Well, the only reason I gained that skill was because _someone_ always had the knack of running into trouble, or starting it for that matter” he responded with a sly smile.

The silvered haired student raised his hands up defensively, “hey, I’m not very good with impulse control.” Both friends chuckled, remembering their past before Mauve moved from Atlas to Vale, separating the duo.

“Really missed you Ric, I’ll forgive you for not calling me about moving here, but in exchange we’re gonna have all night to catch up.”

Both friends made their way to the coed weapon locker rooms, finding their luggage beside their assigned locker. They put their weapons away and made their way back to the ballroom to catch up and rest for tomorrow’s initiation, passing a dark toned student with long black hair. He was big, he had broad shoulders and his cut off shirt revealed his muscular arms. He looked like he could carry anything. As this stranger walked towards his assigned locker room, he passed by Artemis who was leaning against hers. She had no luggage, she was on the move for most of her life that carrying things with her would only be a hindrance _. I’ll be living here for the next four years,_ she thought. _We have assigned uniforms so I don’t have to worry much about school clothes. Our Initiation is Friday, so I’ll have the weekend to go in to town and buy some stuff, sleepwear most importantly,_ she decided. She waited until the locker room was empty and nobody else walked by. Once she was sure no one would come in, she slid down against her locker. She outstretched her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. Not once in her life since she made her weapon did she part from it, she couldn’t. She sat there and closed her eyes, after a while noise started to die down, given her feline heritage she had better hearing than humans. The noise didn’t bother her, but she couldn’t fall asleep knowing that a stranger was up an awake. Years of caution engraved into the faunus was hard to shake off. _I should dial it down a bit,_ she thought. _It might be natural for me but others might pick up on it. That Mauve guy seemed too observant for his own good._ Slowly but surely, Artemis slowly drifted to sleep.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A link to the art I made of Team MAUV in the silhouette style. http://fav.me/dbc1evf


	2. Initiation Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up the next morning comes food. Then, initiation begins!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Here we are at day number 2 of Beacon Academy! This is a two parter (as you can tell from the title), where our new found heroes start their initiation. It will happen differently than in the show, and wont be as epic but I will do my best at the fight scenes!  
> FUN FACT: Did you know cheetahs are the only big cats that can turn midair while sprinting?

Artemis awoke with a start, she heard students start to wake up and decided to ‘get ready’ for the day. Which consisted of getting up from the floor and brushing off wrinkles from her outfit. She heard footsteps approaching the locker rooms and decided it was time to head out. She started to head for the cafeteria when a figure turned the corner.

 _Mauve, was it?_ She thought.

He paused as she passed by giving her a look, almost as if he knew that she’d slept there all night. “Good morning,” he greeted her.

Artemis nodded in response and swiftly left the weapon’s room to head out to eat. Mauve cocked his head to the side, _have I met her before? She looks vaguely familiar_ , he thought. He shook his head and walked towards the men’s restroom to get changed and cleaned up. Ulrich joined him a few minutes later, followed by a few other students.

The childhood friends headed towards the cafeteria, they stood in line and waited for their turn. A quick glance around the room and Mauve saw that there was a variety of food available, pancakes catching his attention. Grabbing his plate, he made a note of the empty seats and headed towards the nearly empty table toward the back, recognizing those students as freshmen.

Ulrich, a few steps behind, sat opposite of his friend, who happened to sit next to Artemis. As Ulrich was about to greet her, he paused. Artemis was staring intently at her fork that had the most irregular attempt at triangular slice of a pancake. After staring at it a few more seconds, she leaned forward and nibbled on it, pondering its taste. Her eyes widened and soon found herself nearly swallowing her fork. The few people at the table chuckled at that, she froze and raised her eyes to meet Ulrich’s.

“If you think these are good, you should try Mauvin’s,” he commented with amusement in his eyes. Artemis looked away, slightly embarrassed.

“I wouldn’t say that, people have different taste in pancakes, some like them soft others crispy, it’s a matter of preference. And quit making it sound like I should be a housewife,” Mauve said back jokingly.

Artemis’ lips twitched a bit, almost as if she wanted to smile.

“As someone who used to eat fresh bread from Hood’s Bakery on a regular basis, I can say that some people just have that magical touch,” a new voice said.

Heads turned to the long-haired guy from yesterday. He was sporting a wine-colored leather vest with cropped sleeves, showing his muscular arms again, slightly darker leather pants tucked under a pair of black combat boots.

“You were a regular at my parent’s bakery?” Mauve asked in surprise, a hint of sadness showed on his eyes. Hood’s Bakery was his parent’s store. Emphasis on was.

“Not personally, but my parents were, always bought your bread for dinner. If your bread tasted that good, I wonder how your pancakes are,” he responded. “A shame about what happened, my sympathies,” he said in a low tone.

Mauve nodded in acceptance while Ulrich had his solemn gaze on Mauve. The conversation died down after that, learning that the big guy’s name was Vinn, but Artemis sat frozen in place.

 _Hood Bakery_ , she thought in dread. _THAT same bakery?_ She refused to look Mauve’s way, and if he noticed, he didn’t show it. Artemis’ appetite left her, pancakes forgotten she stood up and left the table to throw out her plate. The three figures looked up at her sudden departure, but soon went back to eating breakfast.

Exiting, Artemis leaned against the wall of the cafeteria, looking up at the sky as she recalled what happened that day at the bakery. The screams, the static noise, the ash. She can distinctly taste the smoke that filled her lungs from all the fire, making her cough uncontrollably.

 _So, that’s why he seemed familiar_ , Artemis thought in a wondering tone. _He was the boy from that day. That was his parent’s bakery._

She was soon brought out of her fog of thoughts by Goodwitch’s voice on the intercom.

“Will all first-year students can please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, if all students can please report to Beacon Cliff immediately.” The speaker crackled before silencing. Artemis made a beeline for the locker rooms, glad that she would finally get a hold of her weapon again. Without it on her person was like missing a limb.

Making her way to Beacon cliff she noticed metal stands on the ground, the few students that were there positioned themselves on top. She picked a spot toward the middle of the metal platform row and waited. As students began to form a line, she noticed that the Vinn guy from the cafeteria had taken position to her left, Ulrich to her right and Mauve to Ulrich’s right. The two friends talking about partnering up.

Her attention was soon torn to Professor Ozpin. He stepped forward and made sure he had everyone’s attention before speaking.

“Good morning students. And welcome to your first trial of many. For years you have trained to become warriors, today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.” He announced, gaze moving from person to person.

Goodwitch then spoke up from Ozpin’s left, “I’m sure many of you have heard the rumor of teams, well, let me put an end to your wondering. You will be assigned teammates, today.”

Artemis heard a few people shifting uncomfortably as Ozpin spoke again, “these teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is to your best interest to be partnered with someone you work well with,” he paused, “that being said the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be you partner for the next four years.”

Some students had astonished looks on their faces, others etched with worry and disappointment. However catching and eye of a girl with black sunglasses, Artemis notices she had a rather relaxed look on her face.

“After partnering up, continue to the northern part of the forest to an abandoned temple along the path, you will find relics within. Each partner will choose one relic and return to the top of the cliff. You will find opposition along the way, don’t hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die.” He added in an ominous tone.

Artemis might not trust this guy, but she certainly liked his style.

 “We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Questions?” He asked. Not one second passed before saying, “great, take your positions.”

Artemis spread her feet shoulder width apart and bent her knees, she never practiced on a landing strategy but she could improvise.

The metal platform soon sprang up and launched all the students off the cliff simultaneously. A quick look backwards she noticed that everyone was thrown with varying amounts of force, her being the one launched furthest out. When she looked forward again, she was staggered at seeing her first obstacle so soon. She hadn’t even landed yet and a black blur was speeding straight towards her.

A nevermore made its way to the flying hurdle of students, Artemis being the closest to the Grimm was now forced to be the first to fight.

Artemis was mainly a long-range fighter, given the bow, but her arrows will do close to nothing on a Grimm that size. _I can’t do much midair, can’t attack it head on,_ she thought. She opted for diving out of the way at the last minute and try to damage one of its wings with the bladed side of her bow. Hoping the damage will keep it from following her.

She didn’t move from her position in the air, heading straight for the Grimm’s beak. Even after hearing a faint shout of ‘watch out,’ from someone behind her. She was closing in fast, as soon as she was a few meters from the bird’s open beak, she turned midair, twisting her body in a very feline way, missing the bird’s mouth by a foot.

She kept flying towards the Grimm’s left side and landed on its wing. Gripping her weapon in her hand she swung down and stabbed the creature, she then moved and dragged her bladed bow along the Grimm’s wing. Running along it’s wing, the creature screeched loudly and flapped its wing trying to knock her off.

Artemis kept running along the creature’s wing, reaching the end and jumping off. Looking back, she saw that her attack was not deep enough to cut off its wing, but enough for the oversized bird to struggle in flight.

Landing on that Grimm stopped her wild descend from the metal stand back at the cliff. Her jumping off of the Grimm was much more manageable, causing her to fall gracefully through some trees, landing in a crouch on a thick branch.

 _Well, that was one way to start a first impression_ , she thought. She was thrown so far that she could see the abandoned temple from in between the branches _._

 _I really hope my weight had nothing to do with this_ , she thought bitterly. Having been raised to move from place to place she didn’t have a home, always scrounging for food when she could along with her older brother. Her body was what one would consider athletic, but her health when she was out in the open world wasn’t the best, making her susceptible to exhaustion in a short amount of time.

Artemis practically lived in the forest those days. Making the forest a field of advantage for her. She remained high in the trees; where she could not only spot Grimm quicker, but also have the upper hand in range.

 _I’m supposed to have a partner before grabbing the relic, should I just wait_? The faunus thought. After some consideration, the feline decided to head back the way she flew from, hoping to catch a glimpse of a fellow classmate fighting to assess their skills that deemed her a good choice for a partner.

She didn’t have to travel far, after jumping a few trees she started to hear sounds of a battle going on. Following the sound, she stumbled across two familiar faces, Ulrich and that Vinn guy.

 _They must be partners already_ , the feline deduced.

She saw the two classmates take positions with their backs to each other, surrounded by five Ursa. Artemis grabbed Crescent Moon from her back, gripping the bladed bow in position with an arrow at the ready, prepared to help them if they needed it.

Vinn had a very heavy looking sword on one hand, but looked like it weighed nothing to him. Ulrich had some sort of staff made up of guns.

The newly formed duo made their move, Ulrich using his staff to pole vault over the Grimm that charged towards him, landing behind the creature. He then swung his weapon to swipe the Ursa’s feet, landing it on its back. Launching himself into the air he dropped down with force and impaled his staff on the creature’s chest, black smoke rising. His weapon didn’t seem to have a blade to it, so the damage was mostly done with the momentum of the fall. Ulrich then shot his gun that was still in its staff mode a few times, causing the Grimm to roar in pain and slowly dissipate.

Seeing two more Usra approach him from either side of him, Vinn stepped forward and gripped his massive sword from his back. He lowered it slowly and waited for them to pounce. As soon as they were a certain distance away, he swung without moving from his position.

 _What is he doing_ , Artemis thought. _The Grimm are yards away from him._

As he swung up, Artemis was surprised to see his weapon extend. _Oh… so that’s why it looks so heavy._

His segmented sword extended and moved in a diagonal slash upwards, splitting those Grimm in two. The pack of Grimm didn’t have much armor, making them easy to fend off.

Both fighters darted off side by side, each going after the remaining two Grimm.

Ulrich transformed his weapon, holding both guns in each hand and started shooting at his target. All while closing his distance. As soon as he was in range he jumped up and flipped forwards midair, extending his right leg to crush the Ursa’s head in the ground with the heel of his foot. Without moving, he aimed his guns at the back of the Grimm’s head, ending his part of the fight.

Vinn opted for close quarter combat this time, charging up right in front of the Ursa, using nothing more than his forearm to block the incoming claws that darted for his face. Simultaneously he swung his sword down, separating the limb from the body. Roaring in pain the Grimm dropped down to its only single front paw, creating an opening for Vinn to simply swing his weapon down its neck, ending the fight.

 _They’re good_ , Artemis thought. Although the unexperienced Grimm weren’t much of a challenge, they both showed great prowess.

As Ulrich was straightening from his position he looked over towards Vinn, who was starting to walk towards him. Thinking that was the last of the Ursai, he didn’t notice a sixth sneaking up behind him. Artemis readied her bow, about to strike to cover him. Until two blades suddenly appeared on its neck. A quick thrust outwards separated the head from the body, slowly disappearing in black smoke.

Artemis lowered her weapon, taking in the newcomer.

_Mauvin._

The faunus faltered, she didn’t see anyone with him. Meaning if she showed herself she was bound to become his partner. The archer didn’t know how to feel about that; someone tied to the past she wanted to leave behind was a probable future teammate? Not a good idea.

“Mauve! Man, am I glad to see you! Would’ve been great if you had showed a few minutes ago, you know, we could’ve been partners!” Ulrich greeted in excitement. “Oh, no offence Vinn. He’s just a familiar face among everybody, hehe.” He added with a sheepish look on his face.

“None taken. Had I known someone too I would’ve wanted to pair with them as well.” Vinn responded in that deep voice of his. Sensing that that was the last of the Ursai he sheathed his overwhelming sword back on his back.

Mauvin strode over towards the duo, chuckling. “Yeah, it would have been nice. But I mean we should still try to branch out a bit, you know? Meet new people and learn to work together.” Mauve responded.

Artemis was barely listening to them, conflicted on whether she should show herself or not, but before she could come to a decision, her peripheral vision caught a black blur. Looking up she noticed a sharp object speeding towards Mauve.

She didn’t think twice, she aimed and fired. Nailing one of the many Nevermore feathers to the tree next to the most recent newcomer. Everyone else ducked to try to avoid any other projectiles. When they sensed all was clear, all three male gazes went from the feather pinned to the tree, to the arrow, to the dark figure in the trees that was Artemis.

Figuring her cover was as good as blown, she dropped down. Finally revealing herself. Ulrich and Vinn looking surprised at another sudden appearance, Mauve however, wasn’t. He looked surprised at the sudden feather attack, but acted as thought he knew Artemis was here all along.

“Thanks for the save, Artemis.” He thanked casually, as he looked up, making eye contact. “I think you made that Nevermore angry however,” he observed as the huge Grimm flew past them, looking like it was trying to circle back but with difficulty, given the tattered left feather.

Ulrich and Vinn following his gaze at the screeching Grimm.

Ulrich whistled, “damn. You sure did a number on it. You had me worried for a minute when you didn’t move from its way back during the launch.”

“I have to admit,” Vinn spoke for the first time. “I’ve never seen anyone move in midair like that.”

Artemis hesitated in answering him, but figuring as she didn’t hide her animalistic trait, she might as well. _Part of my Faunus heritage,_ she signed, looking over to Ulrich. Hoping he’d translate.

Vinn gave her a confused look. Following her gaze to Ulrich, who although understood what she said, didn’t realize the other two could not.

“Oh, right!” He realized after a while of awkward silence. “She said she was able to twist like that because of her Faunus heritage. She, uh, can’t speak. And although I can’t sign for shit, I can understand her SL okay.” He added.

Vinn looked at her again, this time with incredulity. Probably wondering the same thing as everyone. How can someone like her get accepted to this academy?

“Well, sorry to cut our chat short, but the Nevermore is heading this way.” Mauve spoke up. Observing the Grimm who started to fully turn their direction.

“Well, unless we get Artemis to apologize for nearly maiming it, I suggest we come up with a plan.” Ulrich said, following Mauve’s gaze.

“Hey Artemis, if we can launch you back up. Think you can cut its wing off without getting eaten?” Mauve asked her.

The feline girl cocked her head to the side, pondering, then nodded. She can change the direction of her body while in midair in an instant, she wasn’t worried of getting eaten.

“Good. Vinn, you seem to be the strongest of all of us given your weapon. Think you can aim and throw her?” Mauve asked him.

“Yeah, not a problem. I’ll try not to use too much force but there’s a possibility I might miss. Think you can handle it either way?” At Artemis’ nod, he continued, “but that slice won’t kill it instantaneously.” He directed at Mauve.

“No, it won’t. But it will bring the fight to the ground. And with one less wing, Ric and I can distract it while you sneak in and aim for the head. Your extended sword seems to be the most useful in this situation,” Mauve deduced.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Ulrich stated. Vinn and Artemis nodded in agreement.

“Alright, it’s getting closer. Artemis, Vinn, you’re up.” Mauve ordered. “Ric, come with me. It’ll probably land towards the clearing, let’s get a head start.” Ulrich and Mauve ran off towards the clearing, where the relics were also located.

Meanwhile Vinn readied himself with his hands interlocked, stretched outwards and knees bent. Artemis took a few steps back and raised an eyebrow at him.

Vinn chuckled, “Don’t worry, promise I won’t launch you to the moon.”

Artemis shook her head in amusement and waited till the Nevermore was at what seemed the right distance.

_Now._

She sped towards Vinn and stepped on his outstretched hand. He let out a strained grunt and flung her up with force. Fast. Too fast. She was going to pass the Grimm too soon by a few seconds.

Artemis had to think fast. _What can get me back down faster? My arrows don’t have kick to it, unless… dust. Gravity dust, I knew it would come in handy._

Artemis drew her bow and prepared the gravity dust arrow, aiming towards the sky. She waited to be completely above the Nevermore and activated the arrow without shooting it from her bow. This caused her to fly back down fast. She readied her bow. Grabbing her weapon from the center and focusing her aura. She swung when she was above the tattered wing. With as much force as she could muster, she summoned her aura outside her body, slicing the wing with an arc of amethyst colored light. The creature screeched louder than Artemis thought possible, causing her to wince in discomfort. But she did it, a quick glance also told her that it was indeed descending towards the clearing, where Ulrich and Mauve were probably waiting by now.

Focusing back on her fall, she glanced back down. That attack slowed her descent somewhat, meaning she could land on her feet without much damage to her aura. Making her decision, she braced for the impact. Her landing resulted in a loud boom, dirt and dust obscuring her view. Straightening up, she stepped out of the small circular crater her impact caused, heading for the clearing where the Nevermore had landed. Not seeing that Vinn guy around, she assumed he was already on is way.

As Artemis approached the clearing she started to already hear sounds of battle. Going through the last set of trees she paused, taking in the sight before her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions? Comments? Concerns? Dreams? Future goals in life?


	3. Initiation Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fighting, some bird love and a new/old team intro???? You'll see what I mean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun. Longest chapter yet. Enjoy.

As Artemis approached the clearing she started to already hear sounds of battle. Going through the last set of trees she paused, taking in the sight before her.

Looks like the ruins are… well… in ruins. Because that’s precisely where the grim landed. Its right wing was gone, in its place was a slow process of disintegration. Screeching, the bird thrashed in obvious pain and knocked over what was left of the ruins with its only wing, sending flying projectiles towards three figures that Artemis recognized with a glance.

Mauvin, Ulrich, and Vinn were currently doing their best to evade the flying debris. Mauvin seemed to have the most trouble. His gauntlets appeared to have a blade extension from what Artemis saw back with the decapitated Ursai, about the same length of his forearm and she was willing to bet is had some other modification, maybe a gun of some sort. However, it seemed useless in blocking flying objects, making him sidestep and duck all over the place.

Ulrich’s weapon seemed to work well in contrast to Mauve. His collapsible staff was made up of what appeared to be two long double barrel shotguns. He was currently using it as a staff and swinging it around in a circular motion with one hand, throwing the small pieces of what used to be ruins to the side. He then gripped his weapon with both hands and swung down hard in a straight line, breaking a huge boulder in two. The two halves continued their path on either side of him, landing a few yards behind him.

Vinn on the other hand didn’t seem to be struggling at all, in fact he barley even moved, he just swung his heavy-ass sword all around, breaking anything in his path, extending his sword for those bigger boulders.

“Damn, I can’t do anything if that bird won’t stop it’s thrashing. How are we going to distract it long enough for Vinn to get a swing at it?” Asked Ulrich, his question never deteriorating him from keeping his eyes trained to the still incoming debris.

Vinn spoke up, “I can probably manage to get close enough to try, but even if I do, it is going to notice me before I take a shot at it,” he grunted out, getting pushed back by a particularly large boulder.

“We need to distract it, we need something to keep its eyes on us…” Mauve said, trailing off in thought. Hard to do when that damn bird kept him running all over the place.

 _Something to keep its eyes off Vinn_ , Artemis thought. _Well it seems to really hate me, it flapped around with a tattered wing long enough to find me._ With that, she pulled an arrow from her lower back, fire dust infused. The impact won’t actually hurt it, but it will annoy it enough to look for the culprit, maybe if it recognized the person who maimed it, it’ll distract it long enough for Vinn to get close.

Setting the arrow, the faunus pulled back the string and aimed. The nevermore kept flailing around but Artemis was an excellent shot, she wasn’t worried. The Grimm raised its head and shrieked, giving her the opening she needed. Letting go of the arrow it zoomed through the air silently, landing at the Nevermore’s still open beak, bursting into flames at the impact and cutting off its screeching.

The Grimm stopped its thrashing and zeroed in on the culprit, its burning red eyes stopping at Artemis’ figure. The bird was eerily still for a few seconds, then spontaneously charged straight towards the archer, faster than it should have with its missing wing and slowly disappearing limb.  

“Artemis… I think your new friend wants to play,” Ulrich commented, warily observing the fast approaching Grimm.

“Well, you definitely got its full attention. Vinn, go!” Mauve instructed. “Ulrich, let’s try to slow it down, try to get its legs to ground it.”

“Got it,” he responded.

Looking over to Artemis, now risking it with no flying objects, he said, “Artemis you… just stand there, it seems to really hate you.”

Ulrich laughed at that, “they say love and hate go hand in hand… or in this case hand in wing.” Mauve gave him a glance as if to say, _really? Now of all times?_ “What? The Grimm won’t mind given that it’s all… _right_ now.” Ulrich continued, reading himself and starting for the Grimm with Mauvin right beside him.

“Vinn doesn’t know what he got into when he made eye contact with you…” Mauve responded with an exasperated shake of his head, sprinting after him.

Artemis stayed put, silently wondering how those two could be so… carefree during the battlefield. They had this look on their face, almost as if they were actually enjoying this. Even Vinn seemed to have a satisfied look when he was slicing through those rocks earlier. Artemis couldn’t wrap her head around this. Fighting should be a necessity, right? A type of defense against any harm? Yet they were treating this almost as if it were a sport. She glanced over at heavy-sword-wielding guy, gauging his expression again. This time he just seemed to be concentrating, but the feline could have sworn he too was getting some type of thrill on this.

Vinn circled around the field, getting out of the bird’s line of sight. As he was sprinting, he saw a pile of huge boulders from the earlier flying debris attack, creating a tall makeshift hill. He climbed it, it wasn’t that high, but it was enough to give him a boost to get as close as possible to the Grimm. Reaching the top, he waited for the bird to get closer, hoping it wouldn’t spot him. While waiting he noticed his newly attained partner and his friend pass by, heading for the Nevermore that was closing in faster than he thought, almost reaching his position. If it passed by with that speed he might not time his jump and swing right, it might get past him. He guessed that’s what the duo were heading for, hopefully slowing it down enough for Vinn to make his move.

As Mauve and Ulrich neared the towering monstrosity of a bird, they started for the legs, trying their best to knock the thing down to expose its neck near the ground, for Vinn to take the final blow. They were certainly struggling, the Grimm didn’t slow down, simply swiping at its feet every so often to rid itself of the pests. Artemis noticed this and realized that its speed might be a hindrance to the swordsman waiting, she thought about aiming her last fire dust infused arrow at its feet, hopefully making it lose its balance. But the two childhood friends were within the area of impact, they’d get caught in the crossfire.

 _This is where things are gonna suck_ , she thought. _I can’t yell at them to clear out, and they are too far out to grab their attention by making some noise._ So, Artemis decided to get their attention another way. She took out a normal arrow, pulling the string back and aiming near them, _I hope this works._

She let go of the arrow, it didn’t hit the Grimm. Not because she missed, but because she was aiming near Mauve’s feet, which successfully caught his attention. He looked up in confusion, wondering where in the world she thought she was aiming. Seeing she had his attention she placed the fire dust arrow and aimed her bow towards them.

Mauvin took one look at the type of arrow she had pulled back and he immediately understood. “Ric! Get back!” He shouted, simultaneously moving out of the way.

Ulrich looked confused but did so anyway, trusting his friend’s intuition. Next thing he saw was an arrow landing on the Nevermore’s left foot, the impact causing the foot to fly back and for fire to burst out viciously. The impact was enough for the Grimm to topple over and fall forwards, landing on its front. Right in front of Vinn.

Vinn jumped up and raised his sword above him, extending it a bit to be able to reach the creature that was slightly further, swiping it clean through its neck. He landed hard on the ground. The Nevermore however, disappeared completely, black ash rising.

Mauve and Ulrich strode up towards Vinn, Artemis doing the same, meeting them in the middle. As soon as she arrived Ulrich glanced at her and smiled, “Hey Artemis, that Grimm certainly fell head over heels for you.” She responded with an arch on her brow, clearly unimpressed. Vinn looked completely lost, having not head their earlier banter.

“Really, Ric? Gosh, I certainly didn’t forget how horrible your sense of humor was,” Mauvin replied with a cross of his arms. “I almost feel sorry for Vinn here.”

Artemis didn’t get to hear Ulrich’s response to that, tuning the conversation out for a moment. Listening intently, her higher sense of hearing caught some strange sound that originated from the forest, back the way they came from. It sounded like, something was headed their way. Mauvin caught her sudden interest in the forest and followed her stare, slightly narrowing his eyes.

“Hey guys, someone’s heading our way,” Mauve announced, vaguely hearing Ulrich explain to Vinn the art of humor.

Artemis looked over at Mauvin, seeing his brown and blue eyes scanning the trees. _Someone?_ Artemis thought. _How is he so sure it’s not a Grimm?_

True enough, a fellow classmate burst through the trees. She looked calm while running, obviously not afraid of what was probably following her. Artemis recognized her as the girl with the sunglasses from the launch off, she took the opportunity to study her up close. She had short dark-brown hair with wavy locks on one side of her face, dyed with a gradient that started in deep brown that transitioned to caramel. She was wearing a long, cocoa-colored shirt with long trousers, a brown belt with bullets decorating her waist. She was also wearing a beret to go with wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses. Artemis doesn’t see a weapon on her yet, only holding a black shoulder bag.

The newcomer suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around, her bag shifting and, to Artemis’ surprise, transforming into a black and gold minigun. The sounds of what appeared to be following her were getting closer, everyone was ready for whatever came their way, but it turned out they didn’t need to. As soon as the last trees were torn apart, a Deathstalker burst through, snapping its pincers repeatedly and waving its stinger. Sunglasses-girl opened fire, shooting the Grimm dead on with never ending bullets. It didn’t stand a chance. The Grimm was torn apart by the bullets, successfully ending its existence.

The girl relaxed her stance and turned around. She kept her weapon in the form of a gun, resting it on her right side and propping her left hand on her left hip. Taking a quick glance around above her dark aviators, she said, “I’m guessing all of you have partners already?”

Mauve, Artemis, Ulrich, and Vinn stared at the newcomer’s sudden display of combat skills, it was Ulrich who spoke up. “Yeah, we’ve all partnered up… unfortunately.”

“What were you saying earlier?  Who was falling for who again?” Mauve picked up with a smirk on his face.

Mini-gun girl simply raised an eyebrow at the comment, about to say something when suddenly the sound of growls and falling trees interrupted the conversation… again. Towards the opposite side of the clearing three fellow classmates burst through, followed by a pack of Beowolfs. However, unlike the Ursa pack that Ulrich and Vinn fought earlier, this group of Grimm seemed to be older and with more experience, covered with much more armor.

As the three figures got closer Artemis got a better look at the new-newcomers. The only female was a rabbit faunus. Her combat gear consisted of a short, long-sleeved brown jacket with a black undershirt, followed by brown shorts over black leggings. On her right was a big build guy like Vinn, he however was covered in green armor, also wielding a large sword but didn’t look as heavy as Vinn’s. To her left was a dark skinned red head, he had some sort of sharp blades attached to his wrists. Almost like gauntlets.

Behind them was a pack of at least eight Beowolves, all of them looked to be formidable opponents. As the three new strangers got closer to the current group, they stopped and turned, glancing at the incoming pack.

“You guys seemed to have brought friends, Artemis is in need of a new one,” was Ulrich’s first comment. _Oh, for Gods sake_ , Artemis thought.

“It was getting very cramped in there, we needed more space. Hope you don’t mind joining in?” Asked the red head with dark complexion.

“Not at all, in fact…” minigun-fashionista girl said as she transformed her weapon back to a bag, “… I’m glad you brought more prey, the last one nearly knocked my glasses off. It didn’t suffer as much.”

 _What is it with these people and talking during a Grimm infested forest!_ Artemis thought incredulously. _Does EVERYONE in this school think a fight is fun entertainment???_

Her rant was cut short as the Beowolves reached them. Everyone readied their weapons and indulged in hand-to-hand combat. Artemis stayed back, her bow takes a lot of space to wield, so she waited for them to come to her. She had no more dust arrows, money was hard to come by, and regular arrows will do nothing more than annoy a Beowolf that size. As Grimm and students collided, it seems as though each Grimm choose one opponent, making it an even fight. As Artemis stayed back and surveyed the field she was able to appreciate everyone’s abilities and fighting skills. Then she noticed the one wolf not moving, it also stayed back. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that that wolf seemed to be bigger than the others.

 _Probably the Alpha_ , she guessed. Everyone was having a challenging time with their respective opponents. These Grimm were old, very old to be this much of a hassle. But, if the Alpha is dealt with, the rest of the pack will most likely lose their sense of purpose, depending on instinct and making them much easier to fight. Although everyone looked to be holding off on their own, they weren’t getting anywhere. At this rate, everyone’s auras will be depleted from prolonged fighting. She wasn’t the only one who saw this because soon black-sunglasses girl called out,

“This isn’t getting us anywhere, we need to team up and come up with something.” She called out. A few moments later the Alpha Grimm growled, it seemed to be getting the other wolf’s attention because soon they stopped their attacks and pulled back.

Artemis caught Mauve’s attention and pointed towards the Alpha, trying to communicate with him. After a few moments he seemed to get it because he asked, “Killing the big one will help out somehow?” Artemis nodded, glad to be able to get the message across. Her life outside the kingdom’s walls at least weren’t for nothing.

“I suggest we split them up, and keep them busy, Artemis thinks that getting the big one first will help us out.” Mauve announced.

Sunglasses girl responded with “We can team up into two groups and hold them back, the two big guys with the heavy-ass swords should partner up and take the big one while we part the rest away.”

With that, she fired her minigun to make the Grimm scramble in two directions. Mauve, Artemis and Ulrich kept half of them busy while sunglasses girl, bunny girl, and the red-head dealt with the other half. Vinn and the other big guy readied their swords and glanced at the Alpha. It didn’t move at first, just swung his head back and forth, surveying the field much like Artemis was earlier. Then he noticed the pair. Took one step. Then another. It slowly started as a trot, but then built up to a fast sprint. The pair mimicked its pace and started towards the Grimm, soon colliding and initiating the first strike. Even with two strong people, dealing with the Alpha proved to be challenging. The Grimm swiped at green-dressed combatant, who blocked it with his sword. The Grimm was so strong however, that he was pushed back, his feet sliding on the ground. Vinn took advantage of the Grimm’s busy attack and stepped up from behind. He raised his sword and swung down, but he was surprised at the Grimm’s fast reaction. Without moving its right paw from pushing the green-dressed warrior back, it turned its head around and caught Vinn’s blade with its left paw. Tiny amounts of black ash started to rise from its grip, but otherwise it didn’t seem to have been hurt. The Grim gripped Vinn’s weapon tightly and jerked the guy in an arc, colliding with the other green-dressed nuisance it was dealing with. The pair landed a few yards away, but slowly rose up and took a defensive position as the beast started towards them again, but before it could strike again its body jolted repeatedly. Sunglasses girl took it upon herself to aim at the Alpha’s back, even as she was still trying to deal with the pack. A few arrows were also lodged into its neck, curtesy of Artemis who also joined in as she dodged a claw from a nearby Grimm. The repeated assault on its back cause the Alpha to turn around and growl towards the offenders, giving Vinn and the green-dressed guy the opening they needed. Together they sprinted forward and jumped up, raising their blades and swinging down on the Alpha’s neck, who noticed the incoming attack but was too late to move, severing its head. As soon as it started to disintegrate, the remaining Beowolfs seemed to stagger in their attacks, looking around and grunting, not knowing what to do without their fallen leader. Some scurried off into the forest, the rest kept attacking with much less precision, making them a lot easier to deal with.

After the last Grimms were taken care off, the rest of the newcomers introduced themselves as Coco and Velvet who were paired up together and Yatsuhashi paring with Fox. They all took part in some small talk, given that it took all of them longer than necessary to find the relics from underneath the ruins of the… uh… ruins, but every pair managed to find one, finally making their way back to the top of the cliff.

Artemis held on to the white knight piece, walking at a slower pace from the rest of the students. She turned back to the woods and watched as the sun slowly set, creating a beautiful amber color that matched her eyes. Silently, she wondered, _did I make the right choice in coming here? They all seem so different. They enjoy combat, something I always did as a necessity out in the wild. Fighting was always tiring, it was just a way to survive._

“Hey Artemis. You coming or what?” Ulrich called out, shaking the feline from her thoughts. She turned back towards them as saw that him, Mauve and Vinn stayed back to wait for her, the rest making their way inside the auditorium as Ozpin had instructed after receiving us back from our initiation.           

The archer blinked a few times to clear her head and continued to walk, catching up to them. As soon as she reached them, Vinn spoke up “I hear that they are announcing the teams in a few minutes, we should hurry.”

___________________

“Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, and Yatsuhashi Daichi. You all collected the white rook pieces, from this day forward you will work together as team CFVY. Led by, Coco Adel.” Proffessor Ozpin declared. Applauses started up and soon he called out the next four names.

“Mauvin Hood, Artemisia Kynigos, Ulrich de Vil, and Vinncent Vulcan, please step forward.” We all strode up to the stage and stood facing the professor. “The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team MAUV, led by… Mauvin Hood.” Applauses started up again, Mauve and Ulrich fist bumped at started talking excitedly, Vinn simply stated that he was pleased to be working together while Artemis smiled at them for the first time, nodding her head to agree with Vinncent’s statement.

“Well,” Mauve started, “looks like today will be the first day of four years we’ll be together. Hope we grow strong as a team and learn more about each other for the years to come.”

“You’ve said it man, soooo… what now?” Ulrich questioned.

“Weren’t you paying attention to Goodwitch’s instructions?” Vinncent spoke up, arching a brow.

“She kinda scares me a little, the sharp lime green of her eyes makes it very hard to listen to what she’s saying,” he defended. “Artemis had to help me look for the auditorium when we first landed, without her who knows where I might have ended up.”

“I actually believe that coming from you,” Mauve commented.

“Yeah well, I don’t mean to cut the team celebration short but can we head out? The colors are getting to me, it’s really cramped in here,” said the silver haired teammate. Vinn was the only one who didn’t seem to understand his comment but he let it go.

“Alright let’s head out, Goodwitch said that our dorm information is in our scrolls, they act as the key to the dorm as well. Our luggage should be there too, and if it’s not she said to go ahead and inform the front dorm office.” Mauve explained. “You all want to hear for lunch first?”

The team agreed and spent a good about of time recalling their fighting back at the forest, commenting on each other’s fighting styles and weapons. “So, you’re an aura manipulator?” Mauvin asked the feline after Vinn commented on her aura slash on the Nevermore’s wing. She nodded, confirming Vinncent’s speculations. “That’s pretty incredible. It takes great amounts of effort, concentration, and patience to be able to master that,” he remarked, impressed. Artemis simply stared back, cocking her head a bit. She’s always been able to do that since her aura was unlocked, she didn’t know people normally _trained_ to do that.

Mauve noticed her confusion and simply shook his head in amazement. _She doesn’t even know how much training it takes to be able to do that, she must be a natural at it_ , he thought. _This must be why she was accepted to the academy even with her disability, she makes up for it in skill. Communicating with her however is gonna be a hell of a ride._

After some more small talk, and some nodding from Artemis, the team decided to head out. After some extensive walking and trying to find out where the dorm was located, the new-found team was finally able to make it to their room situated in the fourth floor. Freshmen dorms were the smallest, it was decent enough for four beds but only one bathroom. A community bathroom was also available in the 3rd floor or the dorm. Glancing at her scroll, Artemis discovered it was still slightly early, it was only 8pm.

Upon entering the room, there was only one large window opposite of the door. There were four beds against the window wall, two on either side of it. Each bed had everyone’s suitcase in it, the owners quickly going towards them. Artemis however was surprised to see a fourth suitcase that she thought was someone else’s, but upon closer inspection she saw a note laying on top signed with the archer’s symbol. A crescent moon crossed with an arrow. She opened the note and read:

_I hear you made it to that hunter academy kid, good for you. Best to separate from old friends and start to make new ones. If you ever have the time come visit me, I’ll be getting new books next shipment. Don’t let your brother’s situation put you down, this academy thing will be good for ya. I also thought you might need some of this stuff, so I went ahead and had it shipped to you._

_P.S. Stay out of trouble, ya hear?_

_-T_

Looking inside the suitcase she found some personal items she left behind at Tukson’s place. Some spare clothing, two books, and to her surprise, dust and some arrows. Weapons were strictly forbidden in the dormitory, which made her wonder how this was delivered and by whom. Tukson was a good friend, like an uncle, she met him a little over two years ago in her brief encounter with the White Fang. A group of people she definitely did not want to think about right now. She was able to read between the lines of ‘separating from old friends and making new ones.’ Meaning to stay away from the Fang.

Artemis smiled, her heart warmed at having someone look out for her when her brother could not.

Her brother.

Leon.

Artemis closed her eyes, held back the images that fought to be seen. Gods she missed him. Her life just wasn’t the same without him. Ever since the moment they fled from their burning home they promised never to separate. Unfortunately that promise had to be broken, Tukson was there for her though. He helped her get back on her feet. Something she is still struggling with doing.

The rest of her roommates were sorting through their belongings as well, Ulrich being the first to rush into the bathroom with his things to shower. The other two boys got ready to await their turn, removing their jackets, coats, and boots. Artemis grabbed the spare clothing, glad to have something to change to, and sat on what she assumed will be her bed. Mauve was laying on the bed next to hers, spread out. He turned his head to the right, glancing at Artemis who started to put away the letter she was reading.

“Letter from home?” He asked.

 _Home,_ Artemis couldn’t remember the last time she was able to call a place home. Leon was her home, still is… even if he –

“Artemis? You okay?” Mauve asked as he sat up. At his question he noticed she froze on the spot, gripped the paper in her hand tighter, crinkling it. She realized she hadn’t answered his question and turned around, nodding, affirming that she was fine. To answer his first question she pointed to the letter, then her heart, hoping to get the message across without Ulrich around.

Mauve tilted his head, trying to understand what she was communicating. “You miss them?” He guessed.

The faunus nodded. She did consider Tukson family along with her brother, so she wasn’t technically lying.

“I feel you, in a way…” he responded.

The archer turned away, knowing that he meant that he missed his dead parents. A lump filled her throat, and for a moment, was glad that her throat was so damaged from that day and didn’t have the obligation to say something. She stood up and walked towards the window that was next to her bed. Mauve got the bed to her left, taking a corner. To her right was Ulrich and Vinn got the other corner. It seemed a bit cramped, she thought of maybe creating bunk beds but shook her head at the ridiculous thought, it’s not as if one could make that happen with some books and rope. After a while of gazing the school campus she got a bit agitated, needed something to do.

Artemis walked back to her luggage and grabbed her things and headed to the community bathrooms, apparently, her teammates have never heard the phrase ‘ladies first’ before. She made it to the third flood and walked in the showers, taking a look around and seeing that there was almost no privacy, curtains are what separated each stall. Striding over to the long counter with sinks, she set her things down, glancing at the large mirror. Her reflection stared back, amber colored eyes whose pupil sometimes narrowed when her emotions ran high, as a part of her feline heritage. Her complexion was fair, a little pale for someone who’s been outdoors for most of her life. Her hair was pitch black, and flowed down past her waist, usually tied up loosely at her mid back. She chuckled, remembering Leon comment that having hair so long might get in the way.

 _Well, you have my back don’t you,_ she had replied.

_Yeah, I do._

She closed her eyes, remembering the last time she saw her brother. Clenching her fists. She shook her head to try to remove those thoughts from her mind and started to remove her clothes, feeling the grime of her travels before arriving here. Being dirty never really bothered her. She had to live like this for years, but now that she has a place to be, she was going to take advantage of the facilities.

The shower was glorious, helping in washing away her melancholy thoughts. Artemis felt lighter after that, both literally and figuratively. She stepped out of the showers and headed back to the dorm, running into Vinncent and Mauvin, who also followed her lead and headed to the boy’s community showers. Together they made their way back. As soon as they were about to walk into their room, the door opposite of theirs opened. The sunglasses girl, now known as Coco, appeared with a bundle of clothes as well, Velvet poked her head from behind.

“Let me guess, your testosterone-filled team don’t know the meaning of ‘ladies first’ either do they?” Coco asked in a nonchalant tone.

Artemis crossed her arms and responded with a huff of her breath. This caused the timid faunus hiding behind her to smile.

“I take that as a yes,” Coco assumed with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, Ric is a bit of a hog when it comes to showers. Sometimes I think he was a girl in his past life with how long he takes in there…” Mauve started.

“– Hey! I heard that,” exclaimed said hog from inside our room. He approached the open door and greeted our new apparent neighbors, his eyes lingering at Coco, before turning to Mauvin and saying, “you might be my friend Mauve, but if you throw shade at me, I won’t be afraid to tell people about the time you were cooking wearing a – arghhhHh!” At this point, team MAUV’s leader had Ulrich in a choke hold and ruffled his hair. “Alright, alright I give. Don’t touch the hair man!”

After that scuffle, the two teams soon said their farewells.

As Artemis approached her bed she scheduled getting up at around 6am tomorrow. It was a Saturday and most shops in town opened at 7am, it was an appropriate time to do some shopping for more clothing. Although the school provided the uniforms, she needed an upgrade on her combat outfit, and she also figured she should stop by at Tukson’s to thank him.

“I say we use the weekend to get to know each other better. If we’re gonna be working as a team we should know more about each other, right?” Mauve interrupted her thoughts.

“Sounds good to me. We can start by heading for breakfast in the morning,” Vinn inputted.

“Ugh, morning is a cruel concept to me, why not like at noon,” Ulrich murmured to his pillow that he was currently faced down upon.

“Because breakfast is only served from 7am to 8am. And you do realize classes start at 8 right?” Mauve responded.

“… Yeah, totally knew that,”

Mauve shook his head. “Anyways, we also still don’t know our schedules. Goodwitch said that they should be ready by tomorrow morning and will be sent to our scrolls, maybe we’ll have classes together.”

Artemis took their conversation in but communicated nothing. If she wanted to head to town to do the things she wanted she’d have to skip breakfast. Wouldn’t be the first time, but she didn’t want to appear like an exclusive person so early on.

 _I guess I’ll just grab more things from Tukson’s and should be back in time to catch the last 30 minutes of breakfast,_ she thought.

Eventually everyone had gone to their respective beds and made themselves comfortable. _They aren’t actually asleep yet, right?_ Hearing a few snores she closed her eyes and wondered how the hell she ended up here. And if this was even the right choice to begin with.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what's up?


	4. Welcoming Committee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Visiting an old friend, and the welcoming committee from Beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, decided to attend RTX last minute (it was epic). More details at the bottom. In my defense, this chapter is extra long! And two teams will be introduced... sort of.

Artemis didn’t know what time it was, but it was apparently too early because it was still dark outside and her newfound teammates were still asleep. Being used to sleeping very few hours, the feline decided to get up and get started on her day.

Grabbing the only possession that she needed, her scroll, she got changed and headed for the door. She slipped out quietly out the door and closed it behind her. Taking a quick glance at her scroll she found that it was just past four, pretty much her usual wake up hours. Yet, the whole dorm seemed to be fast asleep.

Shrugging off people’s odd waking schedules, she started walking down the hall but soon had to quickly dive out of the way lest she bump into the incoming student. Seems she was wrong about _everyone_ being asleep.

“I’m so sorry! I’m still half asleep and didn’t see you!” A high-pitched voice with an accent spluttered.

Artemis turned around and came face to face with a pair of bunny ears. Shifting her gaze down she finally focused on Velvet’s face. There were very subtle dark circles under her eyes, enough to go unnoticed if you weren’t looking for them. The faunus girl looked tired enough to the point that Artemis thought she might knock out right there and then. Shifting her gaze lower she saw that her run-in was holding a mug that, as far as she could smell, was warm milk.

If she were to guess, the rabbit faunus was having trouble sleeping and must have gotten up to make herself something to help her slumber. 

The cheetah faunus shook her head slightly, responding to the shorter girl that it was alright, but hesitated before leaving. The poor girl looked pretty worn out, and school hasn’t even started yet. She wondered what warranted her sleep deprivation.

Her shake of the head seemed to relieve the girl because her face soon relaxed the slightest bit, “Thanks, I’m a nervous wreck and now I can’t sleep the slightest. I should probably – whoa!”

The brown-haired girl was cut off by Artemis’ pulling of her hand, nearly dragging the zombified girl to the community kitchen that was available at all hours in every floor.

“Ummm…” the tired girl was at a loss of words of what to do, so she just let herself be dragged to avoid spilling her drink.

As soon as they arrived in the kitchen, Artemis turned around and placed her hands on the shorter girl’s shoulders, pushing her down to sit on a chair that was behind her. She then took her mug and walked over to the sink where she threw it out.

“Hey! What are you –

Before she could finish her response, her mug was placed in front of her on the island that divided the kitchen, filled with hot steamy water. Artemis dipped a tea bag and dragged the ceramic cup closer to the sleepy faunus.

Said faunus looked up at her with a question in her eyes, not knowing how to get the taller girl to communicate with her.

Seeing her questioning look, Artemis grabbed the box she got the tea bag from and passed it to Velvet.

 _Chamomile Tea_ , it read. _Caffeine free - bedtime tea._

“Oh… I uhh, thank you.”

Artemis simply nodded. She herself had scavenged the kitchen to see its contents, she was near desperate at good, real food after having been a few months away at a Grimm hunting job. As she turned around to leave the kitchen she was stopped at hearing the timid girl speak again, “You dragged me here for the tea, but what about you?” She asked. “Why are you up so early, its four in the morning…”

The girl in question stopped at the doorway and cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out why being up at this hour was so odd, this was normal for her. So, she lifted her right hand and moved her index and middle finger in a walking motion.  

“For a walk?” She asked with a surprised look on her face.

Artemis nodded and didn’t bother to see her response. She left the kitchen and headed downstairs, where she would take a ship into the city. Hoping there was service at this hour.

*********

Turns out there _was_ service.

Artemis looked out the window and enjoyed the view for once without a bunch of huddling students pressing up against her. It was quite beautiful. The Emerald Forest to one side and Forever Fall on the other, with its red leaves floating in the air around in loops. It was a shame that the nearer she got to the city, the less nature she saw. Buildings replaced trees, streets replaced green grounds that had flowers in bloom, and smoke from passing cars replaced the delightful smell of wildlife.

She loved the wildlife, she pretty much lived in it for most of her life. In a way, it was a part of her.

As she neared the edge of the city, the view reminded her of the day she first arrived in Vale alongside her brother. Tired, dirty, eyes calculating and ready for anything. They stood out like a sore thumb, and their arguing just made matters worse.

_The twins walked along the path that the patrol guards from the border told them to take. They were still quite away from the city, so all they have been passing by were small houses that looked like they had been build a long time ago._

_Upon finally arriving at the edge of where the city truly began, Apolleon noticed that they were getting odd looks here and there. He shrugged off the cause for being dirty, due to their life outside the kingdom’s defenses, or them being faunus. As he turned to face his sister he spoke up, “we’re gonna have to figure out a way to get some money and find a place to –”_

_A pause._

_“Artemis. Where did you get that?” He asked in a warning tone._

_Artemis was currently munching on a tuna sandwich that seemed to appear out of thin air. Their food reservations had been used up since last night, meaning that sandwich shouldn’t be in her hands._

_“I phund’it just lyin ther,” she spoke with a mouth full of tuna._

_“… meaning it wasn’t yours. Did you seriously just steal food in the first 20 minutes we’ve been here?!” He chastised her._

_Leon was a very righteous person, he’d help those that needed it and didn’t ask for much in return. Much to his twin’s frustration. Artemis wasn’t the patient one; if she was hungry she’d get food one way or another. If they needed money for weapon upgrades she’d steal it with ease while her brother went on hunting jobs and earned it, thinking Artemis would be doing the same. When he found out of her little side endeavors, she got quite an earful._

_Since then, he did what was possible to not let her out of his sight, but her being a cheetah faunus made her fast traits difficult to catch up with._

_Swallowing the mouthful after a few seconds to stall and think of an excuse, she found nothing._

_“I was hungry,” she defended, “plus, it’s going to be hours maybe a day until we actually finish a job.”_

_Leon snached the half of the sandwich that was left from her hands. “It’s only been a few hours, we’ve gone longer without food,” he reprimanded._

_Artemis looked betrayed when the snack was out of her hands._

_“Give it back!”_

_“No, it wasn’t yours to begin with. We’ve talked about this Artemis, you need to stop stealing.”_

_“It’s not like they need it, they can get more from their damn fridge.”_

_“That’s not the point!”_

_They were at a shouting match at this point. Luckily it was 5am in the morning so not many people were out at this hour to witness this. But those that were, simply scurried off._

_Leon was staring at her with furrowed brows and in disappointment, “do you really want to end up being like mom and dad?” He asked her._

_Artemis flinched._ He NEVER talks about them, and now that he does he’s comparing me with them? _She thought._

_Leon noticed her change in demeanor and lowered his voice, but his expression remained unchanged. “If you don’t want to end up like them, stop acting like them.”_

_“Stop talking about them like that,” Artemis finally spoke up. Her bangs covered her eyes but Leon could see her mouth pressed in a firm line._

_“It’s the truth. They were thieves and mur –_

_“STOP IT!”_

_Artemis finally looked up at her brother’s taller form. Her golden eyes were glossy, but her expression was still a defiant one. Leon hated seeing her like this, but she needed to accept reality. He’s avoided talking about them for years, trying to keep his sister’s image of them intact. But that can only last so long._

_“It’s just a stupid sandwich anyway…” She started walking again shoving her way past her brother._

_“C’mon, you can’t really be this upset over food. Well, you can actually… but it’s only been a few hours Artemis. It’s not a priority right now.” He exclaimed, following her._

_“I haven’t eaten since the berries,” she responded without stopping._

_“What? What about the fish I bought from the last village, I gave you a portion.”_

_“We were attacked, remember? The Grimm destroyed out hideout, along with my pack of food before I was able to eat it.”_

_Leon stopped in his tracks, “Why didn’t you tell me!? I could’ve –_

_“ – could’ve what? You had already eaten your portion, and we haven’t been this far West. We don’t know what we can eat out there and what we can’t. It could be poisoned for all we know.” She huffed, still not stopping but not knowing where she was headed._

_Leon sighed. It’s been almost 28 hours since then, it’s a wonder she’s still standing, let alone have the energy to engage in a screaming match. His anger soon changed to concern, but his frustration remained._ She needs to stop keeping to herself, _he thought._

_Jogging to try and catch up to her, he grabbed her by the elbow and stopped her._

_“You’re going the wrong way.”_

_“… I knew that…” she replied stubbornly._

_“here,” he said, handing her the sandwich._

_Artemis raised an eyebrow but didn’t hesitate in snatching it back. Lest he change his mind._

_Leon chuckled, “well, it’s not like anyone is going to eat a half-finished sandwich.” He put his arm around her shoulders and steered her the right way, looking for that guild that the patrol had told him about. A place where faunus are welcomed and provide food, shelter, and a list of jobs like hunting or labor to pay them off._

_Artemis gladly inhaled the rest of the food and was disappointed when her glorious moments had ended._

_“Don’t look so glum. You seem to show more feeling to your foxdsod than your own brother.” Then wistfully he added: “If only a beautiful girl were to look at me the way you look at- OoWww –_

Artemis chuckled at the memories as she stood outside Tukson’s Book Trades. She cherished those memories, the good and the bad. But her thought on her brother were soon washed away as she knocked on the store’s door.

It was still quite early, so no stores were open yet. But she knew that her friend always got here early, and a quick opening of the blinds proved her right. A few seconds later she heard a variety of locks click and unlock, moments after that the door opened.

The last time Artemis saw Tukson was about a year ago when she stayed with him for a few months working at his shop, probably her favorite place too. She met him about a few months after the Kynigos twins arrived at Vale, at a White Fang rally gone wrong about four years ago.

 _Gosh, Leon always hated seeing me in those_ , she thought. He hated seeing his sister get mixed up with the White Fang, said that they were starting to use more violent ways to have their opinions be heard. Artemis should have listened to him and not gone that day.

Tukson was also one of the people who saved her life in that horrible incident at the rally, the explosion that day was what damaged her throat. That was the same incident that she now learned was also the cause of her team leader’s parent’s deaths. The bookstore owner was probably the closest thing she would ever have to a father.

Tukson’s face broke into as much of a smile as he could give with his near permanent scowl on his face.

“Artemisia,” he voiced, “what made you come by? The book shipment lure or the fact that I knew where you were?”

Artemis simply stared back with an expectant expression.

“Huh, so both. Come in.”

She strode forward and took in the boxes laid out around the counter. _The new shipment of books. Gosh it’s so tempting._

A low chuckle manifested behind her.

“So, all I had to do was say I had new books and you’d have come by to say hello?”

The young faunus sighed, starting to feel guilty for not bothering to communicate with the guy. She did only purchase a scroll not too long ago for school, but passing by couldn’t have hurt her.

 _Who told you_ , she signed. Him knowing that she was attending the academy worried her, she was normally good at not being found when she wanted.

Tukson regarded her for a moment before speaking. “I’m close friends with the owner of the guild you often visit. Said he saw you take a Beacon Academy poster instead of a hunting job.” He proceeded to unbox more books to start placing them on shelves. “… And, I had a friend of mine who works in the school give me a look out, and take some stuff I thought you’d need.”

Artemis warmed at that, she forgot what it was like to be looked after by someone. She secretly liked it but always put off a defensive stance. She crossed her arms and huffed.

“Could you blame me if I was slightly concerned when I heard you took months to finish your last job?”

She blew out a breath. She was never one for communications, even her brother tried to get her out of that habit to no avail. Uncrossing her arms, she responded,

_Sorry, I had a lot on my mind._

“It’s fine. I know you don’t necessarily like getting looked after all the time. But who knows, maybe that school and team will teach you that working together also means looking after each other.”

 _Yeah yeah yeah_ , she waved dismissively.

“So…” he added almost hesitantly, “thinking of passing by his place?”

Artemis didn’t respond. Instead she just neared the new shipment and picked up a book from inside a box, pretending to read the book jacket.

“He asked about you, you know”

She picked up another book with her other hand and did the same, deciding on which one to borrow. Meanwhile, Tukson was calmly facing her, waiting for a reaction.

“He still doesn’t remember, but he does feel a connection with you. Asked me to look after you.”

Artemis looked up at that. She started at Tukson’s eyes that seemed to be sincere. Besides, he wouldn’t just lie to get her to go visit him.

“He’s your brother Artemis. Even if he doesn’t remember you.”

(FLASHBACK)

When she came back to consciousness at the Vale Medical Center, she could immediately tell that her doctor didn’t want to be treating her by the way he looked at the left side of her face. Where her faunus trait was visible. She didn’t let it get to her this time however, because she also realized where she was.

 _Apolleon. Where is he? He was there too._ She thought desperately.

Artemis frantically tried to communicate with these people but nothing more than a hoarse croak tumbled out her lips, followed by a flash of paint at the base of her throat.  

Raising her hand up, she felt that her neck was heavily bandaged.

She was confused at first, but then images came back to her.

The White Fang rally. The explosion. The fire. The smoke. Screams soon filled her mind and she started to cough lightly at the fresh memory.

She was arguing with her brother before it happened, he was trying to drag her ass out of that White Fang protest before it got bad, like it had started to get nowadays.

Her throat was a horrendous mess. It still hurt, and when she tried to talk only a gurgle would come out, and the pain only worsened. She would try to ask the doctor or nurses what her diagnosis was, but they either didn’t understand what she was trying to say or they just didn’t care to tell a faunus.

She thought about waiting and eavesdropping to what they were saying. But they didn’t come back.  

She didn’t last another minute waiting. She changed into some clothes that probably belonged to the patient next to her. The T-Shirt went down to her knees. The slacks seemed to fit snugly around the waist, but dragged for another half foot on the floor. She rolled them up and looked for something to tie her hair back. She didn’t find anything so she just grabbed two pencils that were laying around and created a makeshift bun with her long black hair that went past her waist, pinning it with the objects.

Finishing that, she set out to look for her brother. After many failed attempts at asking around, she finally had the mentality to write down what she wanted to communicate, she found out her brother was also in the hospital. As she entered the room he was staying in she saw he faired a lot better than she had.

Artemis had a bunch of bruised bones and a broken rib that punctured her lungs, causing internal bleeding. Her throat was heavily bandaged due to an apparent improvisation of the people who found her, who saved her life. And the right side of her face was covered in one deep cut.

Her brother seemed okay aside from a few bruises and a bandage around his forehead. She stayed by his side for hours until he began to stir. She stood up and watched as he opened his eyes that wandered and fell on her.

She smiled in relief, “h..ey.” She managed to croak out with pained effort.

“Uh, hi. Do I know you?”

 

 

Artemis was devastated, while the doctors didn’t give a crap. Even as Leon panicked because he couldn’t remember his own name.

Artemis brought it upon herself to convince him to leave the medical ward, that all they are doing is just wasting their time and money they don’t have. He only agreed when she told him that she knew who he was.

That day, the cheetah faunus had to make a choice. To follow the instruction that the doctor begrudgingly gave her: that is, to let his memories come back on their own, or tell him everything and risk mental trauma. Artemis opted for the first, she didn’t know how bad things would get if she told him everything and something were to go wrong. So, she just told him his name and that they were friends since childhood.

Artemis left out their blood relationship, and their origin. All he knows now is that they were orphans and when they found each other they spent their lives traveling around the world, settling in Vale for being their favorite.

Throughout the next two years she helped him build a life. He got a job at a metalsmith’s workshop and eventually owned his own place to live, where he let Artemis stay for a while. She waited for him. Helped him out, and tried really hard to not succumb to the pain and loneliness she felt.

She always hoped that he’d remember something, anything, any small thing. But he never did.

She left, about two years after the incident. He had a steady job, looked happy, made friends. Artemis communicated very little, her throat injury ended being long term since she decided not to attend a clinic. She could speak but in broken sentences and with too much effort, and even then, sometimes it was difficult to understand her. This made it difficult to make friends, friends she did not have aside from Tukson and Gajeel, an old acquaintance who decided to stay in the White Fang.

She didn’t _want_ to leave. But she was being nothing more that a burden, even if Leon wouldn’t say it. She got small jobs here and there to help out but they were never permanent, and she didn’t know what else to do. Usually, Leon would be the one who would keep his head on straight and have something in mind.

Artemis? Artemis was at a loss.

She eventually decided to take a break and take a longer job than what she usually got. She went back to the guild that they had originally stayed when first arriving in Vale and searched the bulletin for jobs. After searching through many choices, she came across a call for help at a nearby village that had a Grimm problem. It was about a few days away, so it might help get her clear her head with the prolonged time alone.

The hunt took longer than expected. About two months. But she made it back with just a few scratches. She, however, didn’t want to go back to her brother’s place. She couldn’t face him again and act like everything was okay. She couldn’t keep the brave face on anymore. She wanted to cry, she wanted him to tell her that everything would be alright. But it wasn’t. Her parents were gone, her home was gone, and now the brother she knew was gone.

She needed to keep her mind off things. _Maybe another two months_ , she thought solemnly.  

As she was looking for a new job offer on the bulletin, she noticed another one of those flyers to attend that prestigious hunter’s school. Beacon Academy. _Apolleon always pestered us to go_ , she recalled. After a few moments of indecision, she took the paper and headed out the door.

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

Tukson was still waiting for a response. He saw that her face started to get this far off look. She usually got that look whenever she thought back to that day of the incident, where he saw her underneath all that rubble.

He was one of the people that helped dig her out of the debris. He had never seen such a young frail body go through so much, and still manage to survive with but a few scratches and scars. Had he not known that someone was underneath all that rubble, she wouldn’t have made it. He remembered a kid that was insisting about someone trapped under there, that he could see them. Tukson, figuring he was messing around, would have walked away had it not been for the faint pained moans and coughing he heard. He figured the kid’s semblance helped him ‘see’ somehow, but he never saw the kid again. Last he heard, he ended up becoming an orphan, his parents seemed to have been killed in that attack.

 _I will_ , Artemis finally responded. _But not today._

The older faunus regarded her with a stern expression. He wanted to tell her that she should stop being so distant, but he was in no position to tell her what is right or wrong.

He sighed, “fine, fine. Just make sure you don’t wait another year,” he added gruffly.

Artemis’ mouth pressed into a firm line, but nodded and looked back at the two books she had previously picked up. Her obvious longing did not go unnoticed.

“Take’em, consider them part of your last paycheck that you never came back for,” Tukson reasoned.

The cheetah faunus hesitated for a moment, but eventually gave in and took them.

 _Thank you, I promise to come by more often_. She replied.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” he repeated, mimicking the girl’s earlier response, “just be on the lookout, the White Fang has had their sights on… traitors recently.” He added in a low voice.

Artemis stilled at that, but nodded at the warning, before heading out towards the door.

******

Arriving back at the academy, Artemis saw that she still had time left to catch up with her new team for breakfast. She took her time appreciating the scenery; the beautiful fountains, the small patches of greenery that resembled small gardens, the monumental statues of heroes and Grimm. Along the way were also a few stands selling snacks for some type of fund raiser. Seeing her favorite brand of chips, she quickly got in line to purchase them.

As she was on her way to the dining hall again, rounding the corner, she was surprised to run into Velvet again. Surveying her face, it seemed that the rabbit faunus was able to get at least a good 2 hours’ sleep. Her eyes seemed alert and she saw no dark circles under her eyes. However, under closer inspection Artemis notices that the shy girl was currently cornered. Her ears were drooping slightly and her back was against the outside wall of Artemis’ destination.

“ – an’t believe they’re admitting animals now. Although I kinda get it, fighting animals with animals… yeah, makes sense,” a male voice uttered.

Velvet seemed to shrink into herself, her ears slightly dropping, but not completely. She seemed so defenseless in Artemis’ eyes that she was flabbergasted. _She knows how to fight_ , she reminded herself. _So why doesn’t she defend herself? She looks like a victim._

Artemis was honestly just going to circle them and keep on walking. I mean, the girl was accepted to this school for a reason. If push comes to shove the archer was sure she could defend herself.

 _She can defend herself, she’s fine. Don’t turn around, don’t turn around._ She chanted, last thing she wanted to do was grab attention.

The next words, that were nearly spit from the first speaker’s words, pulled her to a stop as she neared the wooden door that led to the dining hall.

“However, you should’ve been smart enough to leave after our first meeting. Looks like were gonna have to show you the only thing your kind is good fo –

At this point, Artemis realized the reason the faunus girl seemed so worn and tired. These people have been pestering her since yesterday.

_Honestly, what do they get out of this? Do they truly bully-ieve that faunus are lesser beings?_

Artemis chuckled at her own pun, her hand still on the door but not entering. Her sudden vocal interruption caught the attention of the group of four.

“What you laughing at? The cracks on the door?” Bully number two snickered.

The archer turned around to fully face the group, showcasing her left side where her faunus trait was visible. Bully number one’s eyes quickly narrowed at the sight, and at Artemis’ lingering half smile.

“Ya got somethin’ to say?” He asked brusquely.

The cheetah faunus simply smiled a little more and softly chuckled, just enough that her throat wouldn’t instinctively get her to cough.

This seemed to bother the guy even more, seeing as his frown was marred deeper on his face. His buddies behind him honestly didn’t seem too involved in bully one’s antics towards Velvet, but apparently, she seemed to catch their attention now too.

 _Great, just great_. She thought.

Looking back over to the rabbit faunus, she made eye contact and then moved her gaze over to the windows of the Dining Hall, glancing over to the rest of her team that were currently chatting up at a table. Velvet, understanding what she was trying to communicate, quickly scurried off the opposite direction to another set of doors that led to the building.

At her departure, the group of bullies seemed to have advanced towards Artemis, completely ignoring the rabbit’s parting. Focusing on them again, the long-haired archer stood still, wondering where her meddling will lead her to this time. For the most part, she usually strayed away from these types of situations and would not interfere for someone else. Hell, she rarely got into fights anymore, with her brother not there to keep her in line, where was the fun in that?

“Why don’t you share your joke with us? If its moderately funny, I’ll think about you not taking that rabbit’s place…” The same guy voiced with a smug look on his face. “So, tell us, what’s so funny?”

All Artemis did was stare back innocently, cocking her head to the side and smiling. _You_ , she wanted to say. Taking a good look, bully number one’s hair was curly, it reminded her of a clown’s wig.

 _Hmmmm, should he open the door for me would be a nice… jester._ Laughing again she wondered if being around Ulrich had already rubbed off on her within a matter of a day.

The feline girl’s odd reaction seemed to further annoy the bully, given that she still hadn’t uttered a word. She could almost swear that bully one’s eye twitched ever so slightly.

There must not be a cell of self-restraint in his body because Artemis soon found herself slammed against the door so hard that the wood cracked near her upper back. Both his hands gripped her collar as his face showed nothing but annoyance.

“… No one has ever pissed me off this quickly after meeting them, congratulations.” He grunted, getting up close into her personal space. “I’m gonna enjoy wiping that smirk off your face…”

His left hand tightened its grip on the collar of her outfit, but he released his right. For a moment, she thought that was it, that this whole ordeal will just blow off. That's what usually happened, they’d feel like they made their point and just leave. Not this time, because the right hand that had released her soon closed into a fist and was pulled back, readying for the strike.

As the fist grew closer, Artemis did nothing. She found herself tired. Tired of fighting for the same thing over and over. Tired of defending herself for such trivial things like marks on her skin. A few years back she would have easily tried to gain the upper hand and probably beat the guy to a pulp. She was never that great with anger management. But eventually she stopped caring.

She stopped caring the day the brother she knew was gone. The day her hopes were shattered. The day she lost the only thing that grounded her to this cruel world. Her only family.

The day Apolleon was no longer a part of her life, all the fight left her body, she was left tired and broken. Her brother was everything to her, and he was ripped away.

Now, she had nothing.

She no longer found meaning in life. She didn’t even know why she applied for Beacon, one day she just saw the flier of the Academy and it reminded her of her brother's enthusiasm in getting both to attend.

 _I guess being here keeps him alive in a way, a way to keep him close to my heart,_ she thought. He probably would have made it into the academy too, but Artemis was never interested. And going their separate ways was never an option, so Leon never brought it up again.

Whenever she was cornered by racist people, she no longer had fight in her to care. She just listened to what they had to say, and hoped they'd just leave. If they got too handsy she'd just push them off and try to walk away. But she never fought back, she no longer had a reason to unless it was against Grimm to defend herself.

What's the point of standing up for something you were once determined for, if there was no one to share those accomplishments with. Is there even a point if fighting back? Will it make a difference? Everyone has their own opinions; can you truly change the way someone thinks?

 _Maybe that’s why I'm here,_ she thought, to find a reason to fight back in this world filled with so much hate, she wondered. As all this was going through her mind, the closed fist was getting closer to her face, Artemis didn’t move. She'd take it.

_I deserve it, what little I ended up fighting for ended in disaster, and hurt a lot of people._

Her eyes never closed she watched and waited for the hit until… it stopped midair.

Another hand appeared from her right, stopping the approaching fist. Artemis felt the force of what the hit would have been by the breeze that shifted her hair. Eyeing the new hand, she recognized the gauntlet. And sure enough, after trailing her eyes up the arm to the face, there stood Mauve. A quick glance behind him showed the approach of Ulrich and Vinn as well.

 _What are they doing?_ she thought incredulously. _Why are they getting involved in a fight that has nothing to do with them?_

Mauve didn’t speak, he simply took one look at Artemisia's puzzled face and turned his head to look at bully number one.

Ulrich was the first one to speak up.

"You know, Ash” he said, revealing bully number one’s name, “I'd normally say something along the lines of 'didn’t your mom ever tell you never to hit a girl' but considering we’re at a hunter’s school and Artemis maimed a Nevermore by herself, it just doesn’t seem fitting." His attempt at easing the tension humored Artemis the slightest bit.

"I'm confused by your comment, you're talking about a girl, but all I see is an animal," he responded in a non-caring way, speaking as if he just stated that a wall was made of stone. This didn’t anger Artemis though, she simply blew out a tired breath.

 _I've heard that one before, can't they at least get a little more creative?_ she thought.

Her new teams' reactions however were the complete opposite. Mauve's features hardened a bit. Ulrich's brows furrowed, his once freelance expression now marred by the frown. Vinn simply raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.

Artemis saw the muscles in Mauvin's biceps move, looking straight ahead she confirmed that his grip on Ash’s closed fist was tightening slightly, said person’s face tightening a bit, clearly trying not to show the obvious discomfort he was in.

Finally letting go of him Mauve simply stated, "You better realize that if you have problems with one of us, your gonna have problems with all of us. So, I'd better think twice in starting something with me or one of my teammates again, because I assure you that we would be better off as acquaintances rather than enemies."

Artemisia's teammates soon had a 5 second stare off with team AASH (finally remembering them from the ceremony thanks to Ulrich’s unveiling of the leader’s name), she silently surveyed the exchange for a bit with amusement, having never been defended before, she wanted to see it play out. However, the intensity of the moment seemed to have dispersed by Artemisia's opening of the chips she grabbed earlier, taking more than one into her mouth and chewing. Crunching noises filling the silence.

The tension of the confrontation diffused, Mauve's lips twitched slightly at the faunus' antics. Ulrich's face suddenly brightened and stepped in next to her trying to reach for a chip but getting denied by Artemis' defiant stare and keeping the bag from his grip, Vinn raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

Team Ash’s distasteful stare stayed static when he faces Mauvin again, "You speak a tall order, better have some talent to back up your words," and with that they turned and left, but not without giving Artemis a nasty stare, to which she responded with another crunch of a chip.

 _Well,_ she thought, _seems like things might turn out interesting. Maybe coming here wasn't such a bad idea._

Artemis didn’t mind being defended, but she certainly wasn’t used to it anymore. It felt different coming from someone other than her brother, coming from humans she barley knows. But… she didn’t _not_ like it.

"I know you can move almost instantly out of harm’s way like you did the Nevermore, but it almost seemed like you wanted him to hit you," Mauve commented, still staring at team AASH's retreating figures.

Deciding not to answer, Artemis simply turned on her heels and headed after Vinn who started to walk into the building. What was she going to respond? “Oh, I don’t mind getting beat up, im used to it.” Or, “I deserve to get a beating, my mistakes might have had something to do in getting your parent killed.”

Yeeeah, no.

As she was walking she saw that Vinn was nearing a table, about to sit down. She noticed that three plates were abandoned and, under further inspection, team CFVY were idly standing, heads turning towards her team at their approach. Both teams were sitting together apparently.

“So? Please tell me you taught them a lesson,” Coco nearly demanded. Velvet was currently underneath her left arm, embarrassed at the sudden protectiveness from her leader.

 _She must have told them what happened,_ Artemis realized. _So that’s why they showed up out of nowhere._ Rolling her neck a bit to aid the soreness from her upper back, _that and they probably heard that slam, he wasn’t holding back._

“I don’t think starting a fight before school officially starts is a good way to make an impression,” Mauvin commented with an amused smile, stopping next to the cheetah faunus. “Your back okay?” He asked.

Without glancing over at him, Artemis touched her chest with her thumb, her hand in a ‘high five’ gesture.

“She says she’s fine,” Ulrich spoke up, reading her sign language.

Mauve observed her for a few more seconds before letting it go, turning his attention back to Coco.

“I think that a _fantastic_ way to start a first impression… sure, we might get into trouble a bit too soon… but it would totally be worth it.” Turning towards Artemis, Coco added, “Velvet told me what you did for her earlier today, and given what happened just now, I think our two teams will get along just fine. Don’t you think Mauve?”

Mauve eventually took a seat and glanced at the cheetah faunus questionably, wondering what she did earlier that day but proceeded to respond with “totally, fighting a pack of Grimm together, nearly beating up bullies for each other, and eating together? We’re practically best friends already.”

Through the rest of the day, both teams chatted each other up. With the exception from Velvet and Artemis. Both girls didn’t partake in the conversation unless they were directly spoken to, even then it was mainly one liners that killed the conversation quickly. Both faunus however hit it up a bit, with Velvet knowing some Sign Language they were able to talk about small things. They didn’t get too into the conversation however.

Ulrich certainly had a thing for the fashionista if his flirting wasn’t obvious enough. Coco didn’t seem to mind, simply took in all his advanced and threw them back. Vinn and Yatsuhashi also seemed to hit it off, talking about their oversized weapons. Mauve keept a conversation going with Fox and Coco, he strikes as an easygoing person, quickly making friends and a friendly conversation.

Artemis took this all in, slowly coming to the realization that this will probably be a regular occurrence. No more sleeping short minutes in the wild to avoid getting scouted by Grimm. No more scavenging for food. No more sleeping up on the trees.

She doubts she’ll completely learn to trust them to watch her back, right out of the bat. But, seeing them stand up for her against Ash, she just might learn to make friends for once.

Ulrich held up a slice of pizza but paused before taking a bite. “You know the difference between this pizza and my jokes?... My jokes can’t be topped…”

 _Well, this is going to be an interesting school year._ Artemis thought, silently wondering if it was too late to be chosen with another member whose name started with a U…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RTX was amazing and I also ended up cosplaying as Blake. Which, if you don't know, is my favorite character (hand in hand with Yang*heh, hand. get it?*) I also have a visual of my team!! I did the art myself (I will warn you now I don't do digital) and I also included concept art of Artemis. If you'd like to see it check out my deviant art page is under the same pen name. Link here >>>> http://qtrlbsceci.deviantart.com/ (new to this too). 
> 
> This was a long chapter so if you see any mistakes I missed please let me know.
> 
> More details on Mauve's parents and Artemis' "mistake" coming soon.


	5. Hit the Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team AASH back it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Team MAUV  
> Mauvin (Mauve) Hood - "Robin Hood"  
> Artemisia (Artemis) Kinigos - "Artemis" Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon  
> Ulrich (Rick) de Vil - "Cruella de Vil"  
> Vinncent (Vinn) Vulcan - "God of Metalworking/Volcanoes"
> 
> Team AASH  
> Ash Redd - "Ash Ketchum"  
> Azul Kasai - "Azula"  
> Silver Mar - "Silver Surfer"  
> Hanz Bleu - "Hans of the Southern Isles"

One week.

That is how long Artemis has been at Beacon Academy. Just one week, and already she’s become the talk of the school. She can remain hidden and out of sight from Grimm, she was always great at managing her emotions. She was once an undetectable thief, yet, it is impossible for her to remain under the radar in a building filled with chatter and noisy students.

The small scuffle between her and team AASH outside the dining hall was the first wave. But as soon as people found out she was accepted with a disability, everyone went nuts trying to find out what was so special about her. Some looked down at her, commenting on how she doesn’t deserve to be here, others wanted to chat her up and find out what was up.

Artemis hated the attention.

“It’ll die down,” Mauve spoke up from her right.

They were currently in their Language elective course. And as Ozpin had stated, her whole team were taking Sign Language as a requirement. She figured the reason she was also required to be here was to aid in their understanding of sign language. There are numerous ways to sign one word for example, the way she expresses herself might be different than from what the teacher is doing. There were currently only 4 more students in this class, 3 of them second years and Velvet.

“Mauve is right, gossip blows up for a while then something new takes its place.” Ulrich offered. “Coco’s team seems to be getting a lot of attention too. They seem to be doing great teamwork in their combat classes. And I didn’t even know Fox was blind!”

Artemis simply leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms. She hoped that was true.

“Yeah, don’t sweat it. It’ll die out eventually,” one of the second years replied.

Ugh. This is what she was talking about. Attention. She can’t help but feel a bit emo at not wanting to be spoken encouragements to.

“… I think you should let her be… she has that face again.” Vinn spoke up.

“Huh? What face?” Ulrich asked from her left and shifting forward to get a good look.

The archer finally moved her eyes from the board and glared at Ulrich, who immediately shifted back.

“Oh, that face.”

The conversation soon died at the instructor’s arrival.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, how are you today?!?” Professor Peach asked with that usual enthusiasm while signing with her hands.

And on proceeded the class with the professor signing everything she was saying. Most of the 90 minutes of class speeded by quickly. For Artemis it was all just… sitting there, mostly. She also helped her team every now and then, surprisingly though, they were catching on quick. Although they couldn’t sign much for themselves, they were starting to somewhat understand what Artemis is signing.

“Starting next week there will be zero talking in this class, and I don’t mean behavior wise. I mean, at all. Signing will be your only method of communication here. You may look at your notes and peers for help but that is it. No voicing what so ever.”

“Whaaaat?” Groans were heard all around, Ulrich’s being the loudest.

“Shouldn’t you be better at this? Me and Vinn are completely new at it, but you actually understand what Artemis is saying.” Mauvin asked Ulrich amused at his childhood friend’s antics.

“I can understand it fine, signing it is a whole different deal. A small slight change in gesture can be a completely different word. I accidently cussed out a little girl instead of saying thank you. Her grandfather was the owner of a shop, I’m now banned…”

This brought a smile to Artemis’ lips, while Mauve shook his head. “Only you, Rick. Only you.”

“It was an accident!!” He exclaimed. Soon closing his mouth at Professor Peach’s glare.

Professor Peach then continued, “the best way for you to learn is to practice it as much as possible, and since I know you don’t study to save your lives, we’re doing it during class…”

And on went that class until finally, the bell rang.

Following that was combat practice. This part of the school day tended to be done in teams. Different stations were scattered around the building. Target practice, mats for sparring, hand to hand combat training arena, and there was even a simulator in the second floor that apparently can only be used by second years. Some say that few selected first year students can be cleared but must have an excellent average in combat.

Professor Goodwitch was currently standing in the middle of a small arena-like setting. This is where the combat training is going to start.

“First, I would like to measure your skills through observation. I want your teammates to look for your strengths and weaknesses. After the match you yourself will tell me what you think they are. The objective of this exercise is to make you aware of what you need to work on. Not everything you fight will be mindless. Now, let’s begin. Our first match will consist of… Coco Adel vs Mauvin Hood…

The match between the two leaders was intense. One would have the advantage but then the other would take the upper hand. During their entire match, Artemis watched with fixated attention. She never really understood the drive that every person in this Academy showed. Their yearning to fight, their romanticized vison of becoming a hunter or huntress. They’ve probably never truly experienced violence before. They probably think the Grimm are the only monsters in this world, the only thing humanity should fight against. The carefree attitude her team and Coco’s showed out during the initiation proved that. They’ve never fought for their lives, to survive. They find combat… fun. Fun is the last thing that comes to her mind. If it weren’t necessary for survival, she’d probably loathe it.

Yet, seeing her team leader so focused and observant, made her want to understand if there is more to fighting than just for enjoyment. She is also quite curious as to how Mauve knew back at the initiation that people were coming without them being visible. She’d have guessed he had good faunus hearing, but he was most definitely human. As the time dragged on however, she found no answer to her questions. Her thoughts getting interrupted by the Professor’s voice.

“Alright, and that’s the match. Well done both of you. I think this is the first time we’ve had a draw in my time teaching,” she said, glancing up at the monitor showing both their aura levels at 25. “And well, what have you learned about each other?”

“He’s very good at close quarter combat. But for long distances he’s easy picking.” Coco spoke first.

Mauve took in that information and responded with, “And I’d say you excel at long distance, but close quarter will be your downfall.”

“Very well done, now please take your seats.” Glenda glanced up and choose a more reserved student. “Miss Kynigos, you’ve not been very participative lately, lets find you an opponent, shall we.” She glanced down at her screen to look for someone that would contrast her fighting skills.

“I’ll do it,” a voice called out.

Ash. Of course.

“Hmmm,” Glenda looked down at his report from his past combat experience. He seemed to be an okay opponent to test her strengths and weaknesses. The thing she was worried about was their previous confrontation she was reported about before classes had started. After some thought, she relented.

“Very well. You know the rules. Stop attacking as soon as your opponent is on the red. And remember, your objective here is not to defeat your opponent, but to learn their strengths and weaknesses.” She stepped outside the lines of the ring.

Artemis sighed as she stood up and almost lazily stepped away from her team and into the ring. _Great,_ she thought.

Ash, however, strode down the stairs like he owned them, a smug smile decorating his face. Taking a good look at him, Artemis could now see his eyes were a very pretty green, but not as stunning as Mauvin’s right eye. Who’s left blue eye simply accentuated his good looks.

This guy, however, looks way too confident right now. She didn’t like it one bit.

“Hmph, you’re in for a world of hurting kitty cat.” He taunted.

Artemis just stared back indifferently, not acknowledging that he had spoken. _I just want to get this over with_ , she thought to herself.

On the sidelines was the rest of her team watching their exchange.

“Think he’s talking smack to her?” Asked Ulrich.

“Most likely, but Artemis isn’t very easily provoked. If she were, you’d be sleeping outside our dorm.” Mauve replied with slight banter.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You snore.” Deadpanned Vinn.

Coco snickered and Velvet tried very hard to suppress her giggle.

“Not cool man, not cool.” Ulrich shook his head and crossed his arms.

Mauvin, although engaging in the conversation, didn’t take his eyes off the fight that was about to begin. Ash’s sudden interest in participating gave him bad vibes. He was up to something, he just knew it.

“BEGIN” Was Artemis only heads-up, because soon she was forced to the defensive.

Ash flicked his wrists and a throwing knife appeared in both his hands. Simultaneously he ran up and swung sideways to swipe at Artemis’ face, in which she was forced to move her head backwards out of range. To safe herself from falling on her back with that sudden move, she back flipped into a defensive stand.

_He’s faster than I gave him credit for. I underestimated him._ But if speed were the defining factor, Artemis would be the victor. From what she could see is that all his focus is on hurting her, not even bothering to follow the point of the exercise. _I’ll stay on the defensive, see how he moves, them ill force_ him _on the defensive._

Artemis was surprised to say the least. He brought more to the table than she thought. He’s a close quarter combat fighter. So far only using two knifes but she knew that contraption on his wrists either did something or hid more knives. He also knew how to hit. Hard.

“ugrh – g” She grunted. She was forced to take out Crescent Moon, blocking his hit. But he just kept on pushing, literally dragging Artemis backward. He was stronger than her, that was for certain.

_I can’t win him in a battle of strength, So I’ll just use it against him._ Artemis raised her bladed staff higher, in turn raising Ash’s arms. She twisted in place so that her back was facing him and turned her bladed bow from a horizontal block to digging it in the floor vertically. At the sudden disappearance of an opposite force, Ash’s arms kept moving down with force. Using this to her advantage, Artemis pressed her back as close as possible to his, then grabbed his right arm near the shoulder and pulled along with his swing. Simultaneously, she kicked her right leg backward, now his whole body was going the same direction, over Artemis’ shoulder, and to the ground.

She didn’t waste any time in grabbing her weapon again from its place on the ground and backtracking, not wanting to engage just yet.

“Woah, that was neat.”

_Good_ , Mauvin thought _. She knows he’s stronger and is using it against him._

She dodged, parried, and turned on her feet to avoid getting stabbed. Even with her aura he was sure to leave painful hits because he wasn’t holding back.

Alright, time to get on the offensive. She jumped back a few feet to keep some space in between them. She then gripped her bow tightly in her hands and raised her arms, swinging down and focusing on releasing her aura down with the strike. The amethyst glowing arc flowing towards her opponent. That seemed to surprise some people because along with Ash’s surprised face, some people from the audience gasped. Taking a quick look around she saw that some second and third years from another class over at the simulator on the second floor were leaning on the rails watching the fight.

That strike drained Ash’s aura considerably, while it only took a small portion of hers. That was the downfall against using her aura that way, as strong as the attack was, if she used it too much, she ran the risk of draining herself.

Straightening from that attack, she glanced behind her opponent and saw Ash’s team standing behind him. She made eye contact with one of them, something about them… _that… what was I doing?_

“Arghg..,” pain radiated through Artemis. First her hand felt like it was hit with a boulder, then a wave of hot stinging pain traveled from her upper back down to her waist. Blinking a few times, her vision focused on the ceiling.

_I’m on the ground?_

Ash, had somehow slammed the faunus so hard into the ground that the metal floor dented underneath her. Seeing a foot aimed towards her face, she quickly rolled to the side and stood, still slightly disoriented.

_What the hell happened,_ she thought.

“What the hell happened?” Asked Ulrich, watching from the sidelines.

“…I don’t know…” Mauve frowned. She was doing so well until she suddenly didn’t move when Ash kicked her weapon out of her hands. Almost as if she didn’t see him charging towards her.

_Damn that hurt. But what happened, he isn’t fast. Why didn’t I see him? Is it his semblance?_

She thought back for a moment. Throughout their fight he’s been throwing knifes and they gravitated them back towards him.

_No, that can’t be. His semblance has to do with how his knives returned to him. But if its not his semblance then how…_

Her thoughts trailed off as he turned to face her once again. He flicked his wrists and instead of knives appearing in his hands, his weapon finally appeared. Some sort of wrist daggers that looked like claws, or talons. As he walked towards her, his head shifted slightly to the right. His eyes moving quickly, directing Artemis’ attention along with him. All she saw was his teammates again.

Although one caught her interest. He seemed, very focused on her. Waiting for something?

No. Trying to do something.

_Its him_ , Artemis thought. _These pair of bastards reeeeeally must not like me to consider cheating in view of so many._

But by the time she realized it, it was too late, her vision went dark again, twisted. Like, that feeling you get when you’re about to faint, the edges black out first and everything looks fuzzy, and slow. She was ready for it this time though. Instead of focusing her vision, she closed her eyes and focused on sound. His heavy footsteps sounding close, way too close. She didn’t know how he was attacking so she simply ducked and rolled sideways.

Upon not feeling an impact, she opened her eyes again, blinking rapidly to try and clear her vision again. She didn’t know how that guy’s semblance worked, if eye contact was needed or if one look was enough, but she decided not to take any chances. She just hoped the professor wouldn’t reprimand her.

That side roll ended up taking her to where her weapon had fallen, taking it in her hands she raised her bow and grabbed an arrow for the first time in their whole sparring match. Aimed quickly and let go. The arrow flew straight towards Ash, passing and grazing the right side of his check, slightly damaging his aura. But he was not her target. Hanz was.

Hanz’s eyes widened when he realized the arrow was going straight towards him, but a little too late. It made contact and impacted right between his brows. The impact flew his head backwards with so much force that he was thrown down. His aura took all the damage, though he’d most likely feel that tomorrow. Good. The room was silent for a minute, Ash was about to charge again when Goodwitch declared “alright, that’s enough. Match is over.”

Everyone was ushering and murmuring, glancing at Artemis with a variety of looks. Many not nice.

“Shouldn’t she get in trouble for that? She hit me!” Hanz called her out, rising from the floor.

Goodwitch ignored him and proceeded to ask, “alright Ash, tell me what you’ve learned about your opponent.”

Ash put away his weapons and huffed, “that she’s a terrible shot,” snickers were heard.

With the same static expression, she turned to Artemis, “and you?”

_He’s slow, makes too much noise when he moves, his head was not on the objective, and he clearly can’t fulfil an objective on his own. He is however quite strong, the way he uses his semblance makes his weapon help long range._

With a nod she announced, “A for you Miss Kynigos, and C- Mr. Redd.”

At the announcement many voices of surprise filled the room, Ash’s being the loudest.

“What? Why? She took the most damage!”

“Will anyone care to tell Mr. Redd the reasoning behind his grade aside from Miss. Kynigos?”

Mauvin spoke up, “I’m actually surprised you didn’t fail him, he clearly had outside help.”

Goodwitch seemed pleased at the response, seems as though she also knew of team AASH’s actions. “Please, elaborate.”

“the match was going fine until he slammed Artemis down. I found it odd that she didn’t move. Her speed is her forte, she should have seen him coming and moved out of the way.”

“Maybe I was just faster.” Was Ash’s reply.

“Sorry to tell you this but you’re not. Your footing is too heavy and you are nowhere between her speed. I eliminated the fact that it was his semblance, which I think is something along the lines of attraction or telekinesis, maybe polarity. I thought maybe something was wrong with her when I saw her blink several times. She must have figured something out because she stopped relying on sight and closed her eyes, focusing on sound. Which is no hard feat giving his heavy footing. I didn’t realize someone outside was in on the fight until she shot Mr. Bullseye over there. I’ve seen Artemis fight, there was no way she could miss from that distance, so it was done on purpose.”

“Thank you, Mr. Hood.” Turning to Ash, Professor Goodwitch gave him a stern glare. “There is also the fact that you didn’t understand the objective of today’s lesson: Figure out your opponent’s strength and weakness. Not only did you not mention strength, but you got her weakness incorrectly.” Looking to the crowd she called out “Yatsuhashi, Mr. Hood has told us a few of Miss Kinigos’ strengths. Please mention a weakness.”

“Strength, she clearly is outmatched in strength. She was however smart enough to use her opponent’s strength against him.”

“Thank you.” She responded, “and to further answer Mr. Hood’s question, the only reason I did not fail you is because you didn’t need me for that. You yourself have proven that you can’t fulfil a future mission, and that you need someone’s help to assist you against an opponent. Things aren’t looking good for you in regards to the Vital Festival. And I would like to see you and Mr. Bleu in my office after class.”

* * *

“Welp, that was fun.” Ulrich said.

Artemis rolled her eyes while closing and opening her hand into a fist. It was still quite sore from that kick Ash gave her earlier.

Vinncent scoffed, “I’m not sure Artemis agrees with you,”

The group was currently heading towards the next class that they had together, Weapons Training 1301. Walking into the room they noticed that target boards were placed in the middle of the room in a line next to each other.

_Guess its target practice today,_ Artemis thought. _My hand is going to get in the way._ She looked at her hand again. Her aura should take care of the bruise, but it was still gonna ache for a while.

“I think its target practice today, what are we gonna use?”

“ – You will be utilizing your own weapons for today.” Answered Miss Peach, again, who strode in through the door. “If your contraption does not handle any throwing projectiles, using the gun form will work as well. The point of today’s lesson is accuracy. The closer you get to the bulls eye, the better your grade.”

The doors swung open, Team AASH walked in looking a little annoyed. Looks like Professor Goodwitch had an unpleasant talk with them.

_Great,_ the feline thought, _now I have to put up with his annoying self on top of his usual displeasing presence._

At their arrival, professor Peach spoke again, “Glad you could join us, please line up in your assigned teammates per target. This will be a group effort. If your weapon has no projectiles of any kind, you are free to use the practice knifes, or arrows we have for you…” she repeated and continued on with further instructions.

Team MAUV strode over to the target in the center, with team AASH to their right. Not one glance was spared or word was uttered but you could feel the tension in the air between both teams.

Mauve was up first, he strode up in position and shifted his gauntlets, a double barrel was raised close to where his blade usually extended. Firing a few times, he did pretty good, from his various shots, a few hit dead center, the other burn marks stayed pretty much close to it. Ulrich was next, he gripped his weapon, aimed and fired. Unlike Mauve’s rapid firing weapon, Ric’s shotguns were a slower firing rate, but packed a bigger punch. He only took four shots, all of them hitting in the inner ring just grazing the center. Vinn’s weapon didn’t have any type of projectiles, so he grabbed two practice knifes and threw them. Both grazed the center dot.

_For someone who’s fighting style doesn’t depend on guns or throwing knifes, he’s a very good shot_ , Artemis thought as she lined up. To her right, Ash also took position. He decided to act first, he used his own throwing knives and aimed three at the target. All of them hit the center, digging right next to each other. He threw her a look that promised a challenge and waited.

“Just ignore him, he’s full of himself,” Ulrich spoke up.

Artemis stared straight ahead, then raised her bow and arrow. When she tried to pull her arrow back on the string, she immediately stopped. Hissing slightly in pain, she let go and pulled her hand out, opening and closing it in a fist.

Team AASH snickered.

“As you are out there in the field there are times when you will be stuck in a situation where your hurt, but a small action like aiming accurately can save your life. So, I don’t want to hear any excuses…” she added as she observed the two teams warily.

Artemis didn’t mind, she could easily just switch arms and be done with it but, where’s the fun in that?

She placed her bow, and one wooden prop arrow that was not her own, down on the floor. She then laced two more in between her lips. Soon, the faunus proceeded to remove her footwear.

Her teammates looked at her with questioning gazes, especially when she grabbed her weapon on the floor with her feet and did a hand stand. She balanced her weight on one hand, the one that wasn’t hurt, and readied her arrow on her left foot to pull back the string.

“No way…” she heard Ulrich mutter.

Raising her head slightly, she positioned her aim slightly lower, and let go.

Dead center.

You could hear a pin drop in the room when she readied her second arrow, everyone had stopped what they were doing to see which team got closer to the center with their three throws. Reaching her foot forward towards her face, she grabbed the second arrow with her toes that she had placed between her lips.

When Artemis let go of the string again, gasps and slight chuckles were thrown when her arrow literally split her first arrow in half, hitting the exact same spot dead center. At this point, Ash already had a sour look forming on his face, while her teammates tried very had not to laugh straight in their faces. Her third arrow hit dead center again, splitting the second arrow in two.

“Very well done, even with a slight injury you can still manage to stay alive out there with that skill.” The instructor praised walking away to assess other students.

_I didn’t learn this skill to prepare for ‘out there’, the outside world forced me to practice this skill to stay alive_ , she thought as she stood straight from her hand stand.

“Well, now I know never to play billiards or bullseye with you,” observed Vinn.

“Yeah! You totally shut his face up real quick,” was Ulrich’s response. While Mauve simply stared at her with a look of appreciation.

The rest of the class went by quickly, her teammates soon finding out that she did the whole hand stand thing just for show when she shot again normally with her non-dominant hand. This of course just caused even more nasty looks from team AASH.

“Okay class, that will be all for today. All of you did very well today. The point of today’s lesson was to grade you as a team because out there? Your team will be all you have, if you can’t work together, you don’t stand a chance.”

“You are dismissed.”

Everyone grabbed their things and headed out towards the door, making the faunus wonder if she was claustrophobic because the sudden heard of people started to make her feel uneasy. As Artemis walked behind Mauve, she was suddenly shoved harshly forward, bumping into him and was forced to grab his arm for balance.

She didn’t need to look backwards to know who that was, but as Mauve did turn around, he shot the culprit a stern look and simultaneously stopped walking.

Ulrich and Vinncent had already made it outside and did not see the altercation that was to come.

“I apologize, I didn’t see you there.” Ash responded, with a tone that showed no such sentiments.

“You –

Was the only thing Mauve was able to utter because Artemis soon gripped his arm and abruptly pulled forwards, forcing him to walk out the door.

As they made it towards the other half of the team, Vinn raised an eyebrow at the linked arms and asked, “moving that fast already?”

Ulrich snickered at the same time Artemis rolled her eyes. She let go of Mauve’s arm but didn’t stop moving, pushing past her other two teammates and headed out the door for lunch. Behind her the three males shared a questioning look.

“Ash.” Was all Mauvin had to say. A look of understanding passed by the other two males.

“What did he –

“Just made her trip. She didn’t want to make a big deal about it apparently.”

“That guy’s got some issues, and I don’t think he’ll stop if he isn’t dealt with. Think we should take it up with a professor?

“… No, if she decides to then we’ll back her up but I have a feeling she’s the type who prefers not to make a big deal out of things. So lets keep low for now.”

Ulrich and Vinn agreed to that and followed Artemis to the dining hall. Not very many students were here, most seemed to be scattered outside practicing and exchanging moves while others had books in front of them. It was still quite early, so more students would eventually make their way to fill their stomachs.

As they were eating some chatter was instigated after Ulrich handed Coco a banana saying, “I find you appealing,” groans and face plants were distributed amongst both teams.

“That pun was as cheesy as this lasagna,” Coco joked.

Ulrich laughed at that, “well, I do try.”

Mauvin opened his mouth to cut in the conversation of Ulrich’s humor when the televisions set around the hall blurred and the news interrupted the programming.

“ – Breaking news. A very recent tragedy just happened at downtown Vale with the White Fang being the presumed culprits, we will now switch live at the site with one of our news reporters, Cyril?

“Yes Lisa, as you can see behind me, various shops and businesses have been heavily damaged by whom we presume is the aftermath of a White Fang attack. Few have been set on fire while others have been broken into and vandalized. Thankfully no casualties have resulted from this attack but about 15 people have been injured, it is encouraged that people refrain from coming down due to –

“Vinn?” Ulrich asked as he saw his partner rise sharply with a worried look on his face as he stared at the news report. “What’s up”

“My parent’s shop is nearby,” he stated as he quickly made his way to the door. Ignoring his food completely on the table.

Mauve and Ulrich looked at each other and seemed to agree to something, because soon they too rose from their seats. Artemis however stayed in hers, her gaze still stuck on the reporter. _Not again,_ she thought.

“Artemis, c’mon!” Ulrich called out when he saw she didn’t move. Mauve stopped halfway to the door at noticing her lack of movement.

_This isn’t a good idea_ , she thought. If the Fang is still there they might recognize her, not something she needed now.

Midway through her thought process a choice was made for her, because soon Ulrich grabbed her arm and dragged her out with him.

_Dammit._

As all three raced towards the airship that lead to the city, they finally caught up with Vinncent who was about to board.

“Vinn!” Ulrich called out.

He turned, seeing his team nearing towards him. “What are you guys doing?”

“We’re going with you,” Mauve stated.

“I appreciate that, but you don’t have to do that,

“Of course we do! What are you talking about? We might only know each other for a few weeks, but were friends! We help each other out.” Ulrich responded with a firm expression that reflected Mauve’s.

Vinn smiled at that, “Alright, let’s get going then.”

* * *

 

During the flight, they all stood attentive to the screen for any more information about the attack. Out of the corner of Mauve’s eye however, he spotted Artemis fidgeting with her thigh-long black hair throughout the ride. Something about her hesitant attitude into coming along bugged him, but he let it go, for now. He drifted his thoughts to the far back of his mind as the ship started to descend, soon making their way towards the attacked part of downtown Vale.

As the group walked along the streets, the further they walked, the more apparent the damage seemed to be. Red spray paint on the sides of buildings and over shop windows depicting the White Fangs symbol or words that would not be suitable for a child to see. The further they walked the worse it got; broken windows shards crunched as Artemis and her team stepped over them, furniture from businesses where thrown out the windows and battered, some places looked like it was caught on fire briefly from the blackened walls that seemed to claw upwards.

Vinn, who has been leading the way, made a sharp left and walked straight towards what looked like a metalsmith’s workshop. Although this section of Vale looked like it received the most damage, this shop seemed to take the least. Windows were shattered and some furniture looked broken from what Artemis could see through the now windowless shop.

Vinncent pushed open the wooden door, but instead of swinging open it simply fell down backwards. Which surprised Vinn enough to stumble and barely catch himself to avoid following the door to the ground.

“… aaaaand there goes the door again,” a male voice commented with amusement.

Ulrich and Mauve followed Vinn inside while Artemis slowed her walking a bit before entering. _That voice sounds…familiar,_ she thought.

“Where are my parents? Are they okay?” asked Vinn with concern in his voice.

“Why yes Vinn, I’m fine, thank you for asking,” was the stranger’s response. “And they’re fine, they’re not here, they left to the other side of town to pick up some materials to fix up the shop. They should be back soon.”

“Oh don’t be such a girl, I knew you’d be fine, no offense Artemis,” he added looking towards his female teammate. “So, how bad is it?” he asked, turning his attention back to the male voice.

Artemis finally walked past the door frame and stood on top of the fallen door. But she soon froze in place. _Fuck,_ was the only word that crossed her mind.  

The not-stranger didn’t answer Vinn’s question, he cocked his head to the side with a questioning look on his face at the mention of the feline. “Artemis?” he asked him, then shifted his gaze to her as she entered.

Apolleon, her brother, stared at her in disbelief. Which then turned dark.

_Fuck_ , Artemis repeated.

The girl’s teammates had lost look in their faces, glancing back and forth between Artemis and Leon.

The dark-haired female took one tentative step backward towards the exit, but she didn’t get another one in before Leon’s voice warned, “if you step out that door I swear I will throw this knife as soon as you turn your back.”

_I could risk it..._ Artemis thought, it was so tempting. But she knew she’d have to face him sooner or later. She knew her brother worked in a workshop but never really bothered to find out which one. _Karma’s a real bitch._

“Uuuuh, you two…know each other…?” Vinn asked carefully.

“I don’t know,” he responded dryly. “I mean, I thought we were friends, but you tell me. Do friends who have known each other for so long leave for a job outside the kingdoms and don’t contact you for almost three months? Apparently, you’ve been back for a while, didn’t bother to come by?”

She avoided eye contact by looking around. Her uneasiness showing through the shifting of her weight from foot to foot.

“Can’t even look me in the eyes?”

Artemis’ teammates watched with awkwardness at the reunion of these two apparent ‘friends.’

The woman in the spotlight rubbed the back of her neck in nervousness before signing, _low signal….??_ She signed with a questioning look on her face, obviously needing acting classes.

Silence filled the air.

“I think I’ll just throw the knife either way,” he said after a while. Swinging his arm backwards aiming for her.

“WHOA. Whoa, whoa.” Vinn exclaimed, reaching for his wrist. “How about we calm down here, alright?” Taking the knife from Leon’s hand for extra measure he again glanced between the two ‘friends,’ unbeknownst to everyone but Artemis, they were siblings.

During the altercation, Mauve and Ulrich simply stood idly, confusion and surprise apparent in their faces.

Leon scoffed. “Honestly,” he muttered. “I thought you were dead, that job was supposed to take you a few weeks. And I had to find out from Tukson that you were alive?! And that’s because he had people _searching_ for you!” He exclaimed.

Artemis’ face revealed nothing. She simply broke eye contact and looked out the broken window.

Leon’s lips were pressed into a straight line, but choose to ignore her for now. Looking over at Vinncent, he asked “how do you know her anyway.”

“She’s my teammate, from Beacon.” He answered.

That got a reaction. His eyebrows flew up, surprise and disbelief crossed his face.

“That’s new,” he muttered. “So, you’re… friends?” He asked, risking a glance at the person in question.

“Well, yeah. I mean we all only know each other for about a week, but we’re pretty much stuck together for the next four years. We’ve gotten along pretty good.” Vinn answered. “these two are also part of our team. This is Ulrich, my partner,” he motioned to the silver-haired guy who did a two-fingered salute. “And this is Mauvin, our leader.” Said person strode forward and held out his hand for a shake.

“Just Mauve is fine,” he added.

Apolleon mirrored the action and shook his hand once. “Name’s Apolleon, but I go by Leon.”

“And Artemis happens to be his partner, which you apparently already knew.” He said a bit more cautiously, hoping Leon didn’t happen to have another weapon nearby. This _was_ a metalsmith’s workshop after all.

During Vinn’s introductions, Artemis took the liberty to glance at her brother now that his attention was drawn elsewhere. He seemed pretty much the same; messy black hair, amber eyes in the exact shade as Artemis,’ he did however seem to have gotten bigger. Does working as a metalsmith really give you bigger arms?

He no longer looked like a male lean version of her. Being outside the kingdoms didn’t give them much of muscle mass. He, however found his calling in making weaponry, and filled up in all the right places. Artemis seemed to be the only one who needed to build up more mass.

During her little inspection, Artemis was startled when his eyes met hers again and started to go over her form. “have you been eating right?” He asked, noticing her lean form. “Wait, stupid question. Its you. You’re always eating. I just never understand where it all goes….”

That comment caused Artemis to huff and cross her arms defensively. Although her brother didn’t remember their lives outside the kingdom, living with him did give him an idea of her love of food.

Ulrich chuckled, “yeah, we have been starting to notice that.” Starting with the pancake incident they all remember too well. “You’d almost think you’ve never eaten pancakes before.”

“And I’m still waiting for her reaction for when she tries Mauve’s food.” Added Vinn.

“Guys, how many times have I told you,” Mauve interrupted. “Stop making me sound like a housewife.”

During the team’s small scuffle about delicacies and housewives, Leon looked over at Artemis again, and his once stern expression disappeared.

“Are you gonna finally let me welcome you back, or not?” he asked, raising his arms.

Artemis walked over to his open arms and accepted the gesture. She wasn’t one for open affection, but her brother was an exception. Even if he didn’t know of their blood relationship.

Vinn’s parents returned a few moments after that. Some small chatter was instigated and Vinn’s fussing over their safety being the loudest. His parents turned out to be ex-hunters, now retired with a workshop to aid in wielding custom weaponry. After a few more moments of introductions and small chore of helping clean out the worst of the vandalism, the team decided to head out, Vinn now a million times more relaxed realizing his parents were okay and that the store only suffered minor damages.

Before leaving and everyone saying their farewells, Leon pulled Vinn aside.

“Keep an eye on Artemis for me Vinn. She might not be the most open person out there but give her some time. She’s also very stubborn and tries to deal with things on her own, or not deal with them at all. Just… be there for her, she doesn’t have a lot of people in her life. I’m glad knowing she’ll be part of a team.”

Vinn thought back to the confrontation between his teammate and Ash, and her refusal to do anything about it.

“So she’s that friend you told me about huh? Didn’t realize it was the same Artemis.”

“Yeah, she’s a bit of a… tough person to crack open. But once you do, you’ll be alright in her book. Oh, and do me a favor and pass me her number, the girl ain’t gonna escape from me two times,” Leon grumbled.

“Alright,” he laughed in response, “and we’ll all keep an eye out for her. We are a team after all.”

Vinn and Leon’s relationship started at about 2 years ago. One day a boy with a dejected look in his face looked for a job and found one with the Vulcan family. Vinn taught him the ropes to the workshop for his parents to have a substitute while he attended Beacon Academy, deciding to follow in their footsteps and become a hunter himself. His sister was initially going to take his place, but a fatal accident a few years back prevented that from happening. Tragically losing her life during some train accident.

Making their way back to the shuttles, the group of friends started chatting it up about Leon, apparently he left a good impression with the team, his custom weapons rising an exciting conversation between the males of the group. Artemis walked a few steps behind them, taking in all the damage that was done by the White Fang. But the more she gazed upon the wrath of a once peaceful organization, the more she realized how right her brother had been those years ago. If only she had listened…

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, slow build. I'll get there. So yeah, Artemisia is a cheetah faunus (the only faunus in the team). Background stories will come soon enough as well as her semblance, which is part of the reason she wont speak. Hopefully nothing is too farfetched. Any questions or comments please let me know :)


End file.
